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\  THSOLOGIGAIi 


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Dlvisi»n.'!SS.n(c>0 
Section„.jD.87 


No,^,^, 


ASSYRIOLOGY 


ITS   USE  AND  ABUSE  IN  OLD  TESTAMENT 
STUDY 


FKANCIS  "^KOWN 

ASSOCIATE    PROFESSOR   OF   BIBLICAL   PHILOLOGY  IN   THE 
UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEW  YORK 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1885 


Copyright,  1885,  by 
CHARLES  SCEIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW'8 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY, 
NEW   YORK. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

It  is  the  custom,  in  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  to  have  each  year  of  study 
opened  with  a  public  discourse  from  one 
of  its  Faculty.  The  following  pages  con- 
tain an  address,  given  pursuant  to  this 
custom,  September  18,  1884,  in  the  Adams 
Chapel,  Lenox  Hill.  In  its  printed  form 
the  illustrations  are  somewhat  moi'e  copi- 
ous than  they  could  be  in  its  oral  delivery, 
a  few  verbal  alterations  have  been  made, 
frequent  references  added,  and  a  bibliog- 
raphy appended.  It  is  issued,  without 
other  chano:e,  as  a  slig^ht  contribution  to 
the  literature  of  a  momentous  subject. 

Union  TheolocxICAl  Seminary, 

New  York  City,  March  31,  1885. 


ASSYRIOLOGY: 

ITS  USE  AND  ABUSE  IN   OLD  TESTAMENT 
STUDY. 


Mr.  President, 

JBretliren^  mid  Friends  of  the  Seminary : 

You  will  understand  tlie  liesitation  with 
wliicli,  at  our  first  public  meeting  in  this 
new  home  of  the  Seminary,  when  our  cir- 
cumstances and  surroundings  all  point 
toward  the  future,  and  the  most  fitting 
word  would  seem  to  be  one  that  should 
be  born  of  the  occasion,  and  express  its 
significance,  I  venture  to  lead  your  thoughts 
backward  to  an  ancient  and  long^buried 
civilization,  remote  from  our  own,  not 
only  in  time  and  locality,  not  only  in  re- 


2  ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

lationsliips  of  blood  and  language,  but  in 
almost  all  its  conscious  interests  and  aims. 
It  would  be  wholly  out  of  place  to  do  so, 
if  we  were  not  Bible  students,  and  if,  in 
tlie  surpi'ising  revolutions  of  history,  it 
were  not  given  to  this  forgotten  people 
to  come  once  more  to  the  front,  throwing 
light  on  old  problems  and  opening  fresh 
avenues  to  discovery  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment scholar. 

The  product  of  each  new  source  of 
knowledge  is  apprehended  only  by  slow 
degrees.  A  long  time  is  needed  to  exhaust 
it.  Patient  thought  is  needed  to  set  it  in 
its  right  relations  with  the  stock  of  truth 
already  on  hand.  Scientific  advance  is 
through  guesses — more  or  less  rash — des- 
tined often  to  ephemeral  life,  and  marking 
only  the  approximations  of  the  mind  to 
sound  and  accurate  learning.  No  depart- 
ment of  science  can  make  real  progress 
without  constant  and  searching  criticism, 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  3 

that  zeal  may  not  outrun  knowledge,  nor 
brilliant  conjecture  do  duty  as  secure  fact. 
But  when  the  matter  of  research  is 
closely  related  to  our  sacred  documents, 
where  truth  is  most  needful,  and  mistake 
most  disastrous,  then  such  criticism,  both 
calm  and  intrepid,  is  demanded  with 
especial  emphasis.  And  it  is  from  this 
standpoint  that  it  ought  to  be  profitable 
to  survey  the  great  subject  of  Assyrian" 
DISCOVERY.  The  remarks  just  made  are 
fully  applicable  here.  Assyriology  has  its 
guesses,  and  it  has  its  accurate  knowledge. 
It  has  felt  the  benefit  of  rimd  critical  ex- 
amination  at  some  points,  and  has  suffered, 
at  others,  for  lack  of  it.  In  some  directions 
it  has  borne  rich  fruit  for  the  Old  Testa- 
ment exegete,  but  has  been  allowed  to  do 
harm  in  others.  I  trust,  therefore,  that 
it  may  not  be  thought  foreign  to  those 
great  matters  which  are  to  occupy  us 
through  the   coming   months,  if   we   con- 


4  ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

sider,  for  a  little,  some  of  the  Uses  and 
Abuses  of  Assyriology  in  Old  Testament 
Study. 

Assyriology  is  the  somewhat  inadequate 
term  employed  to  denote  the  scientific  in- 
vestigation of  the  history,  literature,  and 
art  of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians,  as 
these  have  been  revealed  through  excava- 
tion on  the  sites  of  their  ancient  cities. 
In  all  human  research  there  have  never 
been  more  surprising  discoveries.  The 
constitution  and  external  fortunes  of  great 
peoples,  their  religion  and  morals,  their 
languages  and  writings,  even,  to  some  de- 
gree, their  personal  habits  and  modes  of 
life,  have  been  suddenly  disclosed.  Cen- 
turies that  were  saved  from  utter  blank- 
ness  only  by  wild  and  conflicting  stories 
from  Greek  historians  have  taken  on  pre- 
cision and  life  and  movement.  Other 
centuries,  wholly  unknown  before,  have 
been  rescued  out  of  the  al)yss  of  the  past. 


1^   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  0 

A  new,    and  vast,  and  varied  canvas  has 
been  added  to  the  panorama  of  history. 

And  it  was  j^erceived,  at  once,  that  this 
was  not  a  matter  for  the  secnlar  historian 
alone.  The  peoples  who  thus  emerged 
from  the  darkness  were  the  very  ones 
whose  destinies  intertwined  themselves  so 
fatally  with  those  of  the  Hebrew  nation. 
We  had,  all  of  us,  heard  their  names  from 
childhood ;  though  we  had  little  under- 
stood  the  involved  machinery  of  national 
life  which  projected  those  devastating  ir- 
ruptions from  the  East,  before  which  the 
northern  and  the  southern  kingdoms  of 
Israel  successively  fell.  It  was  therefore 
not  strange,  that,  to  the  eager  students  of 
philology  and  history  who  hailed  the  new 
discoveries,  and  plunged  with  energy  into 
the  work  of  their  elucidation,  were  added 
numbers  of  those  to  whom  Apologetics 
seemed  the  most  important  field  of  human 
learning,    and   who,  with   a  more  or  less 


6  ASSYKIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE  AND   ABUSE 

hasty  equipment  for  the  task,  began  at 
once  to  make  Assyriology  serviceable  in 
defending  the  Scriptures.  The  conse- 
quence was  the  appropriation  of  valuable 
matter,  often  effective  employment  of  it, 
great  and  infectious  enthusiasm,  but  a  sad 
lack  of  cool  judgment  and  scholarly  pa- 
tience. 

Before  considering  the  great  positive 
benefits  Avhich  Biblical  study  has  derived 
from  the  cuneiform  records,  I  beg  you  to 
recall  a  few  of  the  abuses  which  have 
crept  into  some  of  the  work  of  those  who 
have  employed  them  to  establish  the  truth 
of  Scripture. 

I.  The  root  of  the  misuse  of  Assyri- 
ology in  Bible  study  has  been,  as  already 
hinted,  an  ill-directed  and  excessive  Apol- 
ogetics. Into  the  sources  of  this  Apolo- 
getic spirit,  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  in 
detail.  That  the  matter-of-fact  Anglo- 
Saxon  mind,  tenacious  of  its  traditions,  re- 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  7 

* 

membering  the  religious  struggles  of  otlier 
ages,  and  clinging  to  their  hard-earned 
fruits,  insisting  with  an  energy  which  expe- 
rience has  intensified  upon  the  indivisible 
connection  of  theory  with  practice — belief 
with  life, — brought  by  its  practical  and  ag- 
gressive conception  of  Christianity  into  fre- 
quent and  j)rolonged  hostilities  with  skep- 
ticism in  many  forms,  accustomed  to  fight 
its  own  battles,  and  eager  to  pre-occupy 
the  strategic  points,  should  in  our  day  be 
inclined  to  lay  too  much  stress,  relatively, 
upon  warfare  in  defence  of  the  truth,  can 
hardly  be  a  sur]3rise  to  us.  No  thought- 
ful man  can  lightly  esteem  that  branch  of 
scientific  theology  which  consists  in  a  de- 
fence of  fundamental,  revealed  truth  from 
the  attacks  of  its  adversaries.  An  impor- 
tant place  in  theological  study  is  with 
reason  assigned  to  it.  But  it  may  be 
questioned,  whether  the  Apologetic  temper^ 
always  on  the  defensive,  always   looking 


8  ASSY  BIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

for  assaults,  and  prepared,  at  tlie  first  blow, 
to  strike  vigorously  back — is  a  healthy 
frame  of  mind  for  a  Christian  thinker. 
It  accustoms  him  to  a  timorous  view  of 
truth.  It  is  likely  to  issue  in  a  narrow 
zeal,  which  will  oppose  eveiy  new  thing, 
through  fear  that  it  may,  in  some  way, 
imperil  the  old.  It  tends  to  prevent  the 
taking  up  of  new  and  genuine  elements 
into  the  sum  of  truth,  the  modifying  of 
statements  to  make  them  harmonize  with 
advancing  knowledge.  There  is  danger, 
that  in  protecting  the  inherited  treasures 
of  the  past,  it  will  hinder  the  accumula- 
tion of  more ;  that  in  securing  the  achieve- 
ments of  bygone  centuries,  it  will  fetter 
the  present  with  their  limitations.  An 
Aj)ologetics  of  this  sort  runs  the  risk  of 
crippling  itself,  by  insisting  ujDon  the  use 
of  old  methods  and  weapons  against  mod- 
ern and  well-equipped  opponents.  It  is 
likely  to   grow   eager   for   certain  forms 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  9 

of  truth,  rather  than  for  essential  trutJi. 
It  inclines  to  make  no  distinction  be- 
tween eternal  verities  and  the  forms  of 
I'evelation  in  which  those  verities  are  em- 
bodied, and  to  venture  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  the  former  upon  its  apprehension 
of  the  latter. 

Such  characteristics  have  been  often 
j)erceptible  in  the  discussions  of  recent 
years  over  matters  of  Biblical  Criticism 
and  Dogmatics,  over  points  of  historical, 
and  natural,  and  philosophical  science. 
But  the  field  of  what  may  be  called  Archae- 
ological Aj)ologetics  affords  some  special 
opportunities  for  observing  them,  because 
the  discoveries  in  this  field  have  been  so 
generally  j^resented  to  the  world  as  being, 
what  they  really  are  on  the  whole,  most 
favorable  to  the  interests  which  Apologet- 
ics defends.  Archaeology  has  not  assailed 
fundamental  truth,  as  natural  science  has 
sometimes    been    foolishly   made    to    do. 


10        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

The  Apologetic  temper  in  relation  to 
Archaeology  may  therefore  be  observed,  so 
to  speak,  in  its  natural  movement,  not 
provoked  and  forced  into  a  violent  posi- 
tion, by  attack,  but  acting  spontaneously, 
in  accordance  with  the  tendencies  w^hich 
have  become  habitual  with  it,  and  under 
their  guidance  using  the  materials  which 
excavation  and  research  have  put  into  its 
hand. 

It  is  amid  these  circumstances  that  those 
abuses  have  sprung  up,  in  the  employment 
of  Assyriology  for  Bible  study,  especiab 
ly  in  popular  treatments  of  the  subject, 
which  we  ought  to  deiDrecate  and  try  to 
abolish. 

(1.)  One  abuse  of  Assyriology  for  pur- 
poses of  Old  Testament  study  is  overhasie 
in  its  employment.  By  this  I  do  not  mean 
to  imply  any  doubt  as  to  the  solid  basis  of 
knowledge  upon  which  the  published  de- 
cipherments of  the  cuneiform  inscriptions 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  11 

rest.-  But  it  took  a  long  time  to  establish 
that  basis.  And  although  the  general  val- 
ues of  the  characters  rest  upon  the  cumu- 
lative evidence  of  many  decades,  and  the 
growing  experience  of  the  decipherer  and 
translator  is  constantly  giving  him  greater 
ease  in  his  processes,  and  more  entire  con- 
fidence in  his  results,  it  is  impossible  to 
do  anything  hastily  that  will  be  of  lasting 
value.  At  the  best,  first  results  are  pro- 
visional. Early  translations  are  approxi- 
mate only.  Some  detail,  at  first  unper- 
ceived  or  misunderstood,  may  change  the 
scope  of  a  wdiole  inscription.  And,  more 
than  this,  to  see  the  newly  discovered  facts 
in  their  right  relations — to  perceive  their 
meaning  when  combined  with  other  facts, 
and  to  work  them  all  together  into  one 
comjDact,  enduring  structure,  is  not  a  mat» 
ter  for  the  first  day  or  first  week.  The 
Assyriologists  themselves  have  been  guilty 
of  many  sins  of  excessive  haste,  in  the  in- 


t>y 


12        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

toxication  of  discovery.  But  although 
their  science  has  suffered  thereby  in  the 
eyes  of  other  scholars,  and  a  considera- 
ble number  of  soundly  trained  philologists 
and  historians  has  been  held  aloof,  still, 
as  far  as  Assyriology  itself  is  concerned, 
it  will  outlive  these  errors.  Its  votaries 
will  learn  caution,  as  the  excitement  of 
exploration  cools,  and  their  number  in- 
creases. The  chief  harm  has  been  done 
to  Bible  students  who  have  caught  at 
their  dicta.  The  Assyriologists  themselves 
have,  of  course,  been  j)i'iii^arily  at  fault ; 
but  the  Biblical  scholar  cannot  shake  ofE 
his  own  responsibility.  He  has  not  only, 
to  his  undoing,  taken  the  hasty  conclu- 
sions of  the  specialists,  and  worked  them 
into  his  expositions,  but  he  has  himself 
drawn  hasty  conclusions  from  them.  It  is 
curious  to  see  how  the  same  excess  of  the 
Apologetic  spirit  makes  its  possessor  at 
one  time  too  conservative,  and  at  another 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  VS 

too  radical — now  over-cautious,  and  now 
rash.  Over  against  carefully  generalized 
propositions  of  natural  science,  accepted 
by  great  bodies  of  scientific  workers,  and 
affording  fair  explanations  of  classes  of 
facts,  ive  have  seen  a  tolerably  unyielding 
front ;  over  against  well -ascertained  re- 
sults of  the  literary  criticism  of  the  Bible 
we  have  seen  a  mental  stolidity  which  ar- 
gument could  not  aifect ;  but  for  theories 
and  suggestions  from  Assyriology,  often 
not  half  so  well  supported  or  understood, 
there  has  l)een,  in  some  cpiarters,  an  un- 
seemly voracity ;  everything  has  been 
swallowed ;  the  simplest  rules  of  critical 
inquiry  have  been  forgotten.  There  has 
been  blind  trusting  to  authority,  without 
weighing  it,  and  an  assumption  of  fact 
upon  the  mere  say-so  of  some  presumably 
honest  scholar.  A  mean  between  these 
extremes,  more  openness  of  mind  to  scien- 
tific proof,  and  less  greedy  snatching  at 


14       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

everything  which  seems  to  offer  a  plausi- 
ble argument  for  what  w^e  believe  would 
give  truth  a  better  chance. 

The  unfortunate  results  of  too  great 
precipitation  in  this  matter  can  be  readily 
illustrated  : 

E.g. :  Between  nine  and  ten  years  ago, 
one  of  the  foremost  Assyriologists  (no 
longer  living)  wrote  to  the  editor  of  an 
English  ne^vspaper  the  announcement  that 
he  had  found  what  he  thought  Avould  be, 
"  to  the  general  public,  the  most  interest- 
ing and  remarkable  cuneiform  tablet  yet 
discovered.  This  turns  out  to  contain,"  he 
says,  '''  the  story  of  man's  original  inno^ 
cence,  of  the  temj^tation,  and  of  the  fall."^ 
This  announcement  he  repeated  and  am- 
plified in  a  book  published  not  long  after,^ 

^  George  Smith  :  Letter  printed  in  the  Daily  Tele- 
graph, March  4,  1875. 

'^  George  Smith  :  Chaldean  Account  of  Genesis,  pp. 
11,  13  sq.,  81  sq.     London,  1875 ;  New  York,  1876. 


IX   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  15 

— of  course  the  statement  was  echoed 
and  re-echoed ;  after  the  discovery  of  the 
Babylonian  Deluge  and  Creation  tablets 
nothing  could  be  too  great  a  surprise. 
Everybody  felt  that  the  third  chapter  of 
Genesis  liad  i*eceived  powerful  suj)port. 
Many  persons  did  not  make  it  clear  to 
themselves  what  the  precise  kind  and  de- 
gree of  that  support  was,  but  we  need  not 
enter  upon  that  inquiry  just  now.  The 
important  thing  is  that  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore other  decipherers  were  able  to  show 
conclusively  that  this  first,  hasty  transla- 
tion of  the  newly  found  inscription  was 
mistaken/  and  the  chief  evidence  for  a 
Babylonian  story  of  the  Fall  was  thus  de- 
stroyed. But  the  use  of  his  translation  in 
discussions  about  Genesis  did  not  at  once 


^  Friedr.  Delitzsch,  in  George  Smith's  Clialdaische 
Genesis,  pp.  301  sq.  Leipzig,  1876.  George  Smith  : 
Chaldean  Account  of  Genesis,  rev.  edition,  by  Sayce, 
p.  vii.,  etc.,  etc.     London  and  New  York,  1880. 


16        ASSYEIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

cease.^  And  even  where  it  has  been  given 
up,  some  of  his  corroborative  proofs  have 
been  made  to  support  the  thesis  that  the 
Babylonians  had  such  a  story,  though  we 
have  not  as  yet  discovered  it.  This  is  not 
impossible,  nor  even  improbable,  but  there 
is  a  wide  difference  between  expecting  a 
discovery  and  making  one,  and  then  build- 
ing on  what  you  have  made. 

Another  illustration  is  found  in  theories 
al)out  the  garden  of  Eden.  The  notion 
that  Assyriology  jDroves  that  the  Baby- 
lonians had  a  legend  of  Eden,  and  located 
it  somewhere  in  their  own  territory,  has 
cropped  out  at  various  times  within  the 
past  decade  or  two.^  It  has  been  caught 
at  eagerly  by    those   who    were   troubled 


^  E.g.,  C.  Geikie  :  Hours  witli  the  Bible,  i.,  p.  122. 
New  York,  1881. 

"^ E.g.,  Sir  H.  Eawlinson  :  Jonrn.  Koyal  Asiatic  So- 
ciety, 1869.  Annual  Keport.  Friedricli  Delitzscli :  Wo 
Lag  das  Paradies.     Leipzig,  1881. 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  17 

about  the  exact  geographical  interpreta- 
tion of  Gen.  ii.,  and  in  its  most  recent 
form  appeared  to  some  of  tliem  to  satisfy 
even  in  its  details  the  requirements  of 
the  Biblical  narj'ative.  And  yet,  where- 
ever  this  theory  has  been  submitted  to 
thorough  tests,  its  lack  of  sure  foundation 
has  become  evident.^ 

The  attempt  has  been  likewise  made  to 
confirm  theories  of  the  Sabbath,  by  refer- 
ence to  a  similar  institution  among  the 
Babylonians,^  but  the  result  has  been  to 
make  it  appear  that,  with  our  present 
knowledge,  little  intrinsic  I'esemblance, 
and  no  historical  relationship  can  be 
safely  asserted  as  beyond  question.'"^ 

The  question  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
Babylonian  civilization  is  another  instance 

'  See  Old  Testament  Student,  September,  1884. 

^  See,  es23eeially,  James  Johnston  :  Catholic  Presby- 
terian, January,  188T 

'See  Presbyterian  Ke\dew,  October,  1882.     W.  Lotz 
(Quaest.  Sabbat.,  Leipzig,  1882)  is  more  confident. 
2 


18        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND    ABUSE 

in  point.  A  very  distinguished  historian  ^ 
has  been  at  the  pains  to  prove  that  the 
earliest  Babylonian  civilization  did  not 
date  beyond  b.c.  2300,  or,  at  the  farthest, 
2500.  This  seemed,  until  recently,  likely 
enough,  though  his  argument  was  not 
demonstrative ;  but  within  a  year  or  two 
almost  all  the  Assyriologists  have  adopted 
as  trustworthy  the  statement  of  a  Baby- 
lonian tablet  that  one  of  the  early  Shemi- 
tic  kinsrs  was  reio:nin2:  there  about  b.c. 
3800,  and  place  the  Akkadian  civiliza- 
tion still  earlier,  taking  uj),  on  a  new 
ground,  the  view  that  Bunsen  ~  2:)ublished, 
in  the  last  generation. 

The  Assyriologists,  it  must  be  admitted, 
have  rather  a  slender  basis  for  their  date, 
since  the  tablet  referring  to   this  ancient 


*  G.  Eawlinson  :  Origin  of  Nations,  Cliai).  III.  Lon- 
don, 1877  ;  New  York,  1881. 

2  Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,  iii.,  pp.  361,  451, 
etc.     London,  1859. 


IX    OLD   TESTAMENT    STUDY.  19 

king  was  inscribed  in  tlie  sixth  century, 
but  its  discovery  hints  too  strongly  at 
the  likelihood  of  further  evidence  look- 
ing the  same  way,  to  })e  comfortable  for 
those  committed  to  the  other  view. 

Now  the  blameworthy  thing  iu  all  this 
is  not  the  mistakes.  The  most  careful 
scholar  may  make  mistakes,  of  fact  and 
of  inference.  But  the  blameworthy  thing 
is  that  there  has  been  no  adequate  care 
to  guard  against  mistakes.  Assyriology 
would  be  a  more  useful  aid  to  exegesis 
to-day  if  the  energy  that  has  been  sj)ent 
in  glorifying  it,  on  the  ground  of  its  real 
or  supposed  contributions  to  our  knowl- 
edge, had  been  devoted  to  a  patient  in- 
quiry into  the  real  value  and  bearing  of 
these  contributions.  There  has  been  too 
much  going  on  the  theory  that  every  asser- 
tion which  seemed  to  confiim  the  Old 
Testament  was  therefore,  as  a  matter  of 
course,   a  true   statement,  and   any  ques- 


20        ASSYRTOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

tioning  of  it  a  covert  attack  upon  the  Old 
Testament. 

The  result  of  such  a  habit,  pushed  to 
its  logical  issue,  could  not  be  doubtful. 
There  would  be  not  only  the  wasted  labor 
of  erectins:  worthless  defences,  but  there 
would  be  the  necessity  of  abandoning 
those  defences  whenever  the  attack  should 
come,  with  all  the  loss  of  moral  force  due 
to  a  constant  shifting  of  position.  True, 
we  may  expect  to  learn,  and  ought  to 
wish  to  learn.  The  defence  of  to-day 
ouo:ht  not  to  be  the  same  line  of  fortifi- 
cations  that  served  the  last  generation. 
But  a  constant,  and  enforced  shifting  of 
ground,  made  needful  not  because  the 
fortifications  are  antiquated,  but  because 
though  new  they  are  not  shot-proof,  is, 
to  say  the  least,  undignified  for  champions 
of  divine  truth,  and  is  demoralizing  to 
the  rank  and  file.  There  is  no  need  of 
such  a  hand-to-mouth  Apologetics.     There 


IN   OLD  TESTAMENT   STUDY.  21 

is  no  exigency  which  requires  this  catch- 
ing at  any  and  every  weapon.  We  want 
w^ell-considerecl  results  that  have  some 
prospect  of  jDermanence. 

It  ought  to  be  clearly  understood  by 
every  man  Avho  takes  it  upon  himself  to 
speak  or  write  in  behalf  of  the  Bible  that 
there  is  no  possibility  of  reaching  assured 
conclusions  excej)t  by  calm,  j)atient,  can- 
did, prolonged  and  critical  examination  of 
all  the  facts.  It  is  not  always  that  one 
man  can  go  through  the  whole  process  ;  in 
the  case  of  busy  ministers  it  is  rarely  pos^ 
sible.  But  there  must  be  some  kind  of 
sufficient  assurance  that  the  process  has 
been  carried  through,  by  some  one  com- 
petent to  do  it.  When  the  same  man  is 
Assyriologist  and  exegete,  he  ought,  as 
exegete,  to  demand  of  himself,  as  Assyri- 
ologist, the  most  rigid  observance  of  the 
rules  of  critical  investigation.  Conclu- 
sions must  not  be  jumped  at,  but  reached 


22        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

from  weighing  of  evidence.  He  may,  as 
Assyriologist,  have  his  hypotheses;  science 
advances  by  setting  up  hypotheses,  and 
working  from  them,  till  they  are  dis- 
placed by  better.  But  then  he  must  not, 
as  exegete,  treat  the  hypothesis  as  an 
established  fact,  and  build  a  dogmatic  ex- 
position upon  it. 

Exegetes  and  apologists  who  are  not 
themselves  at  home  in  the  inscriptions 
ought  to  demand  of  the  special  investiga- 
tors that  they  give  them  nothing  as  as- 
sured result  which  has  not  been  thor- 
oughly tested  and  sifted.  They  ought  to 
demand  that  fact  be  sharply  distinguished 
from  guess;  that  definite  and  intelligible 
reasons  be  assigned  for  opinions.  They 
ought  to  distrust  popular  and  cursory 
statements  of  surprising  discoveries.  They 
ought  to  learn  something  of  the  character 
and  way  of  reasoning  of  those  to  whom 
they  look  as  authorities,  in  order  to  have 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  23 

a  notion  of  the  probable  worth  of  their 
opinions.  In  short,  they  ought  to  make  it 
a  matter  of  conscience  to  take  each  step 
with  as  clear  reason  as  their  most  earnest 
efforts,  under  the  conditions  and  with  the 
equipment  which  their  circumstances  fur- 
nish, can  possibl}^  secure.  It  will  be  a 
good  day  for  Old  Testament  studies  when 
this  comes  to  be  the  prevailing  habit 
amonor  Old  Testament  students. 

o 

(2.)  Another  abuse  of  Assyriology  for 
purposes  of  Old  Testament  study,  and  one 
so  flagrant  as  not  to  need  long  discussion,  is 
tlie  refusal  to  acce])t  its  clear  facts^  in  the 
interest  of  some  theojy  of  interpretation. 
We  need  to  discriminate  here.  When  an 
Assyrian  statement  can  be  equally  well 
explained  in  two  different  ways,  we  have 
the  right,  and  are  bound,  as  we  should  be 
in  all  historical  study,  to  take  that  expla- 
nation which  harmonizes  with  a  corre- 
sponding Biblical  statement.     It  may  even 


24:        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND    ABUSE 

be  scientifically  allowable  to  modify  an 
Assyrian  statement  for  sufficient  cause. 
Thus  when  Sennacherib  recounts  the  suc- 
cesses of  his  great  Palestinian  campaign, 
and  puts  the  tribute  of  Hezekiah  at  the 
end,  instead  of  near  the  beginning,  revers- 
ing the  order  of  2  Kings  xviii.,  we  can  see 
a  reason  for  that,  w4iich  confirms  the  ac- 
curacy of  the  latter.  For  it  is  most 
natural  that  the  Assyrian  khig  should 
have  been  desirous  of  putting  the  best 
face  on  his  disappointing  expedition  by 
rounding  off  his  account  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  his  spoils;  while  it  is  hardly 
credible  that,  after  Jerusalem  had  success- 
fully defied  his  threats,  Hezekiah  should 
have  paid  him  tribute.  So,  also,  it  is  not 
a  warping  of  Assyriological  facts  to  sup-  ^ 
plement  and  explain  them  by  Bible  facts, 
which  the  inscriptions  ignore.  Sennache- 
rib does  not  tell  us  why  he  suddenly  re- 
turned to  Nineveh,  while  apparently,  from 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT  STUDY.  25 

his  own  account,  in  the  full  tide  of  military 
success.  A  historian  with  no  predilection  in 
favor  of  the  Bible,  called  to  choose  between 
the  mice-eaten  quivers  and  bows,  which 
Herodotus  gossips  about,  and  the  provi- 
dentially ordered  pestilence  of  the  book  of 
Kings,  might  well  prefer  the  latter. 

But  when  the  sense  of  the  inscription  is 
distinct  and  complete,  then  it  is  not  legit- 
imate to  put  another  sense  into  it  for  har- 
monistic  purposes.  You  may  deny  its 
truth,  if  you  choose  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility of  that,  but  you  have  no  right  to 
warp  its  meaning.  A  noteworthy  illustra- 
tion of  what  I  mean  is  the  hypothesis  of  a 
break  in  the  Eponym  Canon.  I  hope  I 
shall  not  be  thouo^ht  too  technical  in  ex- 
plaining  it.  The  Eponym  Canon  is  a  list 
of  officials,  who,  after  the  fashion  of  Greek 
archons  and  Roman  consuls,  gave  names 
to  the  successive  years.  A  complete  list 
of  this  sort  would  give  us  a  secure  chrono- 


26        ASSYKIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE  Al^D   ABUSE 

logical  basis  for  Assyrian  history.  In 
fact,  we  have  no  one  complete  list,  but  six  or 
seven  partial  lists,  overlapping  each  other, 
so  as  to  cover  altogether  a  period  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  ninth  to  the  middle  of  the  seventh 
century  B.C.  There  is  no  internal  proof,  and 
no  indication  from  all  the  cuneiform  lit- 
erature that  the  succession  of  names  thus 
given  is  not  continuous ;  no  suggestion  of 
a  break.  And  yet  a  resj)ectable  number 
of  chronoloo-ists  have  assumed  a  break  of 
forty-six  years,  to  make  a  place  in  this 
interval  for  the  king  Pul,  of  2  Kings  xv. 
and  1  Chr.  v.,  whose  name  did  not  ap23ear 
in  the  inscriptions.  They  have  done  this 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  eponym  chro- 
nology is  fixed  on  one  side  of  their  break 
by  agreement  with  the  list  of  Babylonian 
kings  which  Claudius  Ptolemy,  near  the 
beginning  of  our  era,  made  up  in  Greek, 
on  Babylonian  authority,  and  fixed  on  the 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT    STUDY.  27 

other  by  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  B.C.  763 
(tliey  have  taken  advantage  of  a  less  note- 
vsrorthy  eclipse  in  b.c.  809)  ;  they  have 
acted  in  the  face  of  the  convincino*  histor- 
ical  proof  that  Pal  was  identical  with 
Tiglathpileser  (II.),  solely  on  the  ground 
that  Tiglathpileser  cannot,  accoi'ding  to 
their  understanding  of  Biblical  dates,  have 
been  a  contemporary  of  Menahem  of  Is- 
rael, with  whose  name  Pul's  is  associated, 
2  Kings  XV.  19.  This  view  is  gradually  los- 
ing its  adherents,  but  has  been  main- 
tained by  reputable  scholars.^  The  vice 
of  this  method  of  liandling  the  inscrip- 
tions lies  here :  that  it  involves  a  playing 
fast-and-loose  with  well-attested  historical 
documents ;  hailing  them  eagerly  when  they 
say  at  once  what  you  want  them  to  say,  but 


'  Particularly  in  France  ;  see  J.  Oppert  :  Salomon  et 
ses  Successeurs,  Paris,  1877 ;  E.  Ledrain :  Histoire 
d'Israel,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1879-82.  Tlie  quietus  lias  prob- 
ably been  given  to  this  hypothesis  by  recent  discovery. 
See  below. 


28       ASSYKIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

discrediting  them  with  all  your  might  when 
their  utterances  are  troublesome  to  you ;  it 
means  that  you  are  unwilling  to  wait,  un- 
able to  hold  questions  of  harmony  in  abey- 
ance, insist  on  building  your  own  w^all, 
and  building  at  once,  and  building  on  your 
own  foundation ;  not  courageous  enough  to 
be  candid  ;  not  large-minded  enough  to  rec- 
ognize a  well-established  fact  outside  of  the 
Bible  as  possessed  of  all  the  rights  of  a 
fact,  and  claiming  its  lawful  place  in  the 
complete  series  of  facts.  The  danger  in  this 
particular  case  is,  I  think,  practically  over- 
come, but  the  same  inclinations  are  still 
alive.  They  spring  from  an  afEection  for 
God's  Word  which  is  not  to  be  lightly  es- 
teemed, and  a  purpose  to  defend  it  at  all 
hazards,  which  does  honor  to  him  that 
cherishes  it,  but  they  endanger  the  interests 
for  which  they  fight,  because  they  are  tinged 
by  fear  of  the  full  light  of  all  the  truth. 
It  is  a  great  pity  to  be  afraid  of  facts. 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  29 

(3.)  Tliis  briugs  us  to  another  point. 
It  is  an  abuse  of  Assyriology  for  purposes 
of  Old  Testament  study  to  ignore  the  neio 
prohlems  with  which  it  confronts  the 
Biblical  scholar.  Assyriology  is  not  a 
mere  key  to  unlock  doors.  It  offers  a  vast 
and  complicated  series  of  facts.  It  throws 
clear  light  on  some  things,  and  partial 
light  on  others,  and  reveals  dim  outlines 
of  yet  others.  If  we  put  ourselves  in  that 
light,  we  must  be  willing  to  see  all  it 
shows  us.  Assyriology  is  not  simply  an 
interpreter,  that  stands  outside  and  ex- 
plains our  Bibles  to  us.  It  makes  its  way 
into  our  Bibles,  and  even  while  it  smooths 
over  some  of  the  old  difficulties,  it  some- 
times unearths  new  ones  no  less  trouble- 
some. It  is  the  imperative  daty  of  those 
Avho  study — most  of  all  those  who  teach, 
or  expect  to  teach — the  Bible,  to  recognize 
these  new  problems  in  all  their  gravity 
and  far-reaching  import.     Intelligence  and 


80        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

honesty,  love  for  tlie  Scriptures  and  loyalty 
to  truth,  all  demand  it.  The  new  ques- 
tions must  be  faced  without  prejudice  and 
discussed  without  passion.  I  do  not  mean 
that  they  must  at  once  and  indiscrim- 
inately be  made  topics  for  popular  dis- 
course ;  though  I  believe  we  ought  to  be 
looking  forward  to  a  time,  and  preparing 
for  it,  when  the  average  membership  of 
our  churches  shall  have  a  faith  so  full  of 
livino;  nerves  and  muscles  that  it  will  hold 
itself  upright  beneath  even  such  searching 
inquiries  as  these ;  and  wise  instruction  is 
very  nourishing  to  such  a  faith  ;  still,  a 
habitual  and  emphatic  magnifying  of  these 
problems  is  needless  and  would  do  harm, 
as  much  as  the  ignoring  of  them.  But 
whoever  undertakes  to  make  use  of  As- 
syriology  in  behalf  of  the  Old  Testament 
cannot  shun  them,  for  himself,  and  there 
will  be  many  cases  which  will  prove  the 
wisdom  of  keeping  the  bright  and  eager 


i:n^  old  testament  study.  31 

and  trutliful  minds  that  come  under  liis 
influence  fairly  well  informed  of  the  ob- 
scure matters  as  well  as  of  the  plain  ones. 
It  gives  the  enemy  a  great  advantage  if  he 
can  be  the  one  to  drop  an  ugly-looking 
fact,  colored  as  he  can  color  it,  into  the 
mind  of  one  whom  you  ai-e  set  to  teach ; 
so  that  the  pupil  will  suppose  you  did  not 
know  it,  and  despise  you,  or  concealed  it, 
and  distrust  you.  Of  course  the  right  pre- 
sentation of  difficulties  is  a  matter  for  very 
delicate  treatment,  but  it  can  be  learned. 
The  first  and  chief  thing  is  that  we  appre- 
hend ourselves  what  the  difficulties  are. 

The  so-called  Genesis  tablets,  already 
referred  to,  furnish  an  illustration.  Take, 
for  example  the  Deluge  tablet,^  Avith  its 
divine  command  to  build  the  ship,  its  ac- 
count of  the  embarkation,  its  picture  of 
the  oncoming  and  the  effects  of  the  flood, 

^  See  Lenormant :  Beginnings  of  History,  English 
Translation,  pp.  575  sq.     New  York,  1882. 


32       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

the  ship  grounding  at  length  on  a  moun- 
tain, the  sending  out  of  dove  and  raven, 
the  sacrifice  after  disembarking,  and  all 
the  details  of  its  correspondence  with  the 
Hebrew  account.  There  are  disagree- 
ments, no  doubt,  but  the  resemblances  are 
sufficiently  striking.  How  are  these  re- 
semblances to  be  explained  ?  Is  there  a 
literary  relationship  between  the  two  ? 
If  so,  of  what  sort  ?  Which  depends  on 
the  other ;  or  are  both  dependent  upon 
some  earlier  form  of  the  story  ?  If  so, 
again,  which  of  the  two  comes  the  nearer 
to  that  earlier  form  ?  And  what  was  the 
character  of  that  earlier  form  ?  If,  as 
now  seems  most  likely,  the  Ur  Kasdim 
from  which  Abram  came  out  was  in  Baby- 
lonia, does  this  give  any  clue  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  story  among  the  Hebrews  ? 
And  when  did  Abram  come  out  ?  Can  it 
be  proved  tbat  the  story, was  current  in 
Babylonia  before  he  left  that  land  ?  Where 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  33 

did  it  come  into  being,  and  how  ?  Did  it 
originate  with  the  Shemitic  Babylonians, 
or  was  it  borrowed  by  them  from  the 
Akkadians,  those  imperfectly  known  par- 
ents of  so  large  a  part  of  the  Shemitic 
civilization?  What  light  is  thrown  by 
these  inquiries  upon  the  catastrophe  which 
the  narrative  describes — its  nature,  its  ex- 
tent, its  result  ? 

It  will  be  seen  that  such  inquiries  as 
these  are  not  questions  of  abstract  science, 
but  have  to  do  with  the  structure  of  the 
first  of  our  sacred  books,  the  sources  of 
its  materials,  and,  not  indeed  the  fact  of  its 
inspiration — that  is  not  touched — but  the 
mode  of  that  insj)iration's  working.  They 
open  up,  for  example,  the  whole  discus- 
sion, whether  the  early  narratives  of  Gen- 
esis are  matter  of  special  revelation  to 
their  immediate  human  author ;  whether 
they  have  been  handed  down  from  re- 
motest antiquity  under  a  miraculous  super- 


34       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE  A^B   ABUSE 

vision,  which  kept  them  free  from  ad- 
mixture of  error ;  whether  they  Vjelong  to 
the  common  stock  of  popular,  Shemitic 
tradition,  cleansed  and  ennobled  and  made 
iifc  vehicles  for  spiritual  teaching,  under  the 
special  influence  of  God;  or  what  other 
explanation  of  their  present  appearance 
and  form  may  suggest  itself.  For  a  like 
set  of  questions  can  be  put  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Creation  tablets  of  Babylonia, 
as  far  as  they  agree  in  form  with  Gen.  i. 
and  ii.,  and  if  there  were  a  Babylonian 
story  of  the  Fall,  we  should  have  the  same 
problems,  in  some  respects  more  intricate, 
the  closer  the  external  resemblance  with 
the  Hebrew  narratives.  Dogmatism  might 
cut  the  knot,  but  our  duty  as  Christian 
scholars  is  to  untie  it,  if  we  can,  and,  at 
all  events,  in  the  interests  of  God's  truth 
to  recognize  it,  and  weave  no  theory  in 
whose  meshes  that  knot  shall  be  merely 
hidden,  put   out  of   sight,  and   forgotten. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  35 

The  divine  origin  of  tlie  Bible,  the  raoi-e 
strongly  it  is  believed,  will  imj^el  us  the 
more  forcibly  to  a  complete  apprehension 
of  all  the  facts  which  have  to  do  with  it, 
and  to  a  more  persistent  assurance  that  the 
Bible  will  not  suffer,  but  will  gain,  indefi- 
nitely and  permanently,  in  the  appreciation 
and  faith  of  men,  the  more  freely  these 
reverent  questions  are  raised,  and  the  more 
thoroughly  they  are  settled. 

Take  a  different  illustration.  An  an- 
cient cuneiform  record  bears  a  story — call 
it  legend  or  history,  as  you  please — of  the 
King  Sargon  of  Agane ;  how  he  was  born 
in  retirement,  placed  by  his  mother  in  a 
basket  of  rushes,  launched  on  a  river, 
rescued  and  brought  up  by  a  stranger; 
after  which  he  became  king.^  Is  there 
any   connection    between    this    story   and 

^  See  G.  Smith,  Trans.  Soc.  Bib.  ArchseoL,  i.,  p.  46. 
1872.  Of.  Chaldean  Account  of  Genesis,  p.  224.  1876. 
Eev.  ecL,  p.  319  sq.     1880. 


38        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE  AND   ABUSE 

that  of  Moses  ?  If  so,  wliat  ?  It  has  been 
said  that  the  stories  of  the  exposure  of  Rom- 
ulus and  Cyrus  and  other  unfortunate  in- 
fants were  later  reflections — echoes — of  the 
Hebrew  account  of  Moses.  Whether  that 
was  likely  or  not,  here  we  have  a  king  who 
lived  a  thousand  years  before  Moses — per- 
haps much  more.  It  is  believed  that  the 
story  was  told  of  him  several  hundred  years 
at  least  before  Moses  was  born.  Is  there 
simply  a  coincidence  here  ?  I  do  not  doubt 
for  a  moment  that  there  is  some  explana- 
tion, honorable  to  the  Sacred  Record  and 
satisfactory  to  the  literary  phenomena,  but 
what  is  it  ?  The  best  that  one  of  the  most 
j)opular  and  conservative  of  recent  writers 
on  such  topics  can  say  is:  "Acting  either 
on  the  hint  of  this  strange  legend,  or  led 
in  a  like  case  to  a  similar  course,  Jochebed 
prepared  a  little    ark  of   papyrus,"    etc.^ 

'  C.  Geikie  :  Hours  with  the  Bible,  ii.,  p.  92.     New 
York,  1881. 


IN"   OLD   TESTAMENT   SUTDY.  37 

The  former  hypothesis  is  conceivable,  but 
unlikely;  the  latter,  again  possible,  but 
very  strange.     The  problem  is  still  there. 

As  a  third  illustration,  take  the  new- 
est Cyrus  Inscriptions.  There  are  two  of 
them,^  which  give  the  account  from  dif- 
ferent stand-points  (that  of  the  zealous 
priest  and  that  of  the  annalist)  of  the 
capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus'  troo23S,  B.C. 
538.  I  mention  only  one  of  the  points  of 
difficulty  which  arise  when  these  inscrip- 
tions are  compared  wdth  statements  in  the 
book  of  Daniel.  They  seem  to  leave  no 
place  for  "  Darius  the  Median."  Gobryas, 
general  of  Cyrus'  forces,  entered  Babylon, 
according  to  their  statement,  in  July,  of 
the  seventeenth  year  of  Nabonidus,  the 
reigning   King   of   Babylon.       Cyrus   fol- 


'  A  cylinder  (see  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  Journal  of  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  Jannaiy,  1880),  and  a  tablet  (see  Theopli. 
G.  Pinches,  Transactions  of  Soc.  of  Bibl.  ArchaeoL,  vii., 
1.     1880.) 


38        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

lowed  him  soon  after;  having  at  once  de- 
posed Nabonidus,  and  assumed  the  royal 
power.  The  Darius  who  from  Dan.  v.  31, 
vi.  1-28,  etc.,  would  appear  to  have  fol- 
lowed the  last  Babylonian  king,  and  pre- 
ceded Cyrus,  seems  not  to  exist  for  the  in- 
scriptions. Now  here  is  a  historical  problem 
of  the  first  order.  It  needs  no  amplification. 
The  issue  is  clear.  I  do  not  know  what 
adequate  solution  can  be  now  offered  for 
the  difiiculty.  That  there  is  some  solution, 
under  which  the  Bible  will  suffer  no  dam- 
age, I  feel  sure,  but  who  can  now  tell  us 
what  it  is  ?  ^  This  is  a  specimen  of  a  com- 
paratively small,  but  extremely  grave  class 
of  problems,  which  it  is  not  honest,  nor 
wise,  for  Bible  students  to  put  wholly  out 
of  sight,  when  they  call  Assyriology  to^ 
their  aid  in  interpreting  the  Scriptures. 

^  A  cun-ent  answer  affirms  the  legendary  character  of 
the  book  of  Daniel.  But  this  is  not  enough.  The 
origin  of  the  legend  is  still  to  be  ex^Dlained. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  39 

No  one  of  these  questions  endangers  the 
divine  truth.  That  has  its  own  basis, 
immovable  and  sure.  And  no  one  of  them 
need  endanger  our  repose  upon  the  divine 
truth,  or  give  us  anxiety  or  distress  of 
mind.  Peace  of  heart,  security  for  the 
truth  and  in  the  truth,  belong,  in  God's 
ordering,  to  the  courageous,  reverent,  and 
loyal  inquirer,  who  ^velcomes  all  knowl- 
edge that  God.  sends  him. 

II.  It  might  seem  wise  in  me  to  detain 
you  a  much  shorter  time  with  the  uses 
of  Assyriology  in  Old  Testament  study, 
not  because  this  branch  of  the  subject 
is  less  important  than  the  other,  but  be- 
cause it  is,  at  least  in  the  general  aspects 
of  it,  more  familiar.  And  yet  I  trust  that 
some  fulness  of  illustration  may  not  come 
amiss.  For,  if  the  cautions  already  sug- 
gested are  kept  in  mind,  we  are  not  likely 
to  exaggerate  the   advantages   which   As- 


40        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   A^B   ABUSE 

syriology  offers  to  the  student  of  the  Bi- 
ble.    They  are  very  great. 

(1.)  In  the  first  place,  Assyriology  has 
given  to  the  ancient  Hebrew  literature 
and  life  a  neio  setting.  Whenever  we 
learn  to  know  a  people  in  its  racial  con- 
nections, then  we  are  beginning  to  hnoio 
it,  then  it  begins  to  take  its  rightful 
place  among  the  peoples  of  the  earth, 
then  the  fibres  of  human  sympathy  begin 
to  reach  out  on  this  side  and  that,  there 
are  points  of  contact,  there  are  lines  of 
interest  ;  we  can  estimate  its  whole 
character  more  wisely  when  we  learn, 
even  imperfectly,  its  genesis  and  its  re- 
lationships; what  it  has  accomplished  in 
the  world  takes  on  a  new  asi^ect,  either 
by  resemblance  or  by  contrast,  when  put 
by  the  side  of  the  doings  of  its  sister 
people ;  the  forms  of  its  thought  become 
more  intellio:ible,  or  more  strikino; ;  the 
quality    of    its   literature    j*eceives    some 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  41 

explanation,  and  the  external  features  of 
tliat  literature  cease  to  be  solitary  and 
strange  to  us ;  tlie  people  and  all  that 
belongs  to  it  come  more  fully  into  our 
world,  and  range  themselves  alongside 
of  us  and  our  neighbors  and  our  ances- 
tors, and  take  on  a  familiarity  which  is 
yet  new  and  fresh,  and  full  of  meaning. 
It  is  a  distinct  and  great  advantage,  when, 
without  any  lowering  of  its  unique  claims, 
or  any  diminution  of  the  special  charac- 
teristics imparted  to  it  by  the  divine 
agency  in  its  production,  the  volume  of 
sacred  writings,  before  whose  authority 
we  bow,  associates  itself  more  intimately, 
on  its  human  side,  with  the  history  of 
mankind  at  large. 

Nothing  has  done  so  much  to  establish 
these  connections  as  the  inscriptions  of 
Babylonia  and  xlssyria.  It  is'  true  we 
have  hatd  other  Shemitic  literatures — 
Arabic,     Aramaic,    Ethiopjc,    Rabbinic — 


42        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

but  all  of  them  too  late,  and  mucli  of 
their  product  too  artificial  to  illumine  the 
ancient  Hebrew  times  with  the  livino; 
light,  to  throw  about  them  the  brilliant 
atmosphere,  which  records  contemporary 
with  them  could  do.  But  within  the  last 
thirty  years  there  has  been  coming  more 
and  more  plainly  into  view  the  back- 
ground from  which  the  Old  Testament 
stands  out  in  a  definition  of  increasing 
sharpness,  and  yet  with  such  gradations 
of  light  and  shade,  such  lines  running 
from  the  foresfround  back  into  the  recesses 
of  the  picture,  as  to  give  unity  to  the 
whole,  and  convince  us  that  foreground 
and  background,  in  a  subtle  way,  belong 
together.  We  begin  to  perceive  what 
the  Shemitic  race  was,  in  its  power  and 
its  weakness,  its  early  vigor  and  its  en- 
during tenacity,  its  versatility  and  its 
depth,  its  religious  fervor  and  its  prac- 
tical coolness  and  shrewdness,  its  capacity 


IN   OLD    TESTAMENT   STUDY.  43 

for  poetic  emotion  and  its  literaiy  skill, 
its  creative  attempts  at  realistic  and  sym- 
bolic art,  and  its  daring  plans  for  archi- 
tectural triumphs ;  on  the  other  hand,  its 
cruel  and  selfish  warrings,  its  j)itiless  op- 
pressions, its  internecine  strifes,  its  arbi- 
trary despotisms,  its  extravagance  and 
vanity,  and  its  foul  idolatries;  we  find 
the  germs  of  impulses  and  movements 
that  worked  ruin  to  the  Hebrews,  at  the 
last,  through  the  hand  of  their  own  kin- 
dred peoples,  and  we  find  new  cause  to 
wonder  at  the  divine  power  which  could 
yet  make  of  Israel  a  chosen  nation.  This 
in  general,  and  many  details  beside.  The 
very  Genesis  tablets,  which  raise  such 
hard  questions,  by  their  form  and  by  their 
subject-matter  testify  of  a  close  and  vital 
union,  in  some  tap-root,  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  Jordan  with  that  of  the  Eu- 
phrates ;  the  hundred  mutual  explanations 
of  annals  and  chronicles,  from  the  banks 


44        ASSYEIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

of  the  Tio-ris  and  from  the  hill  that  over- 
looks  the  valley  of  Kedron  knit  the 
Hebrew  history  into  the  world's  history, 
and  convince  us  that  in  our  Old  Testa- 
metits  we  have  to  do  with  men,  with 
human  passions  and  schemes  and  hopes 
and  struggles,  inward  and  outward. 

This  is  not  a  matter  of  slight  conse- 
quence— a  mere  dilettante  interest.  It  may 
serve  not  only  to  increase  our  own  care 
for  the  Old  Testament,  by  making  it 
vivid,  not  only  to  diminish  to  some  degree 
that  unhappy  racial  prejudice,  which  in 
late  years  has  been  reviving  in  different 
parts  of  the  world — not  unprovoked  in 
particular  cases,  but  utterly  unworthy  of 
those  who,  by  God's  grace,  through  faith 
have  become  children  of  Abraham,  and 
heirs  according  to  the  promise — but  also 
to  bridge  over  that  chasm,  which  some- 
times seems  hopelessly  widening,  between 
all  that  relates  to  Bible  truth   and  the  im- 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  45 

mense  energies  put  forth  by  men  of  taste 
and  of  scientific  habit,  in  -the  pursuit  of 
those   branches   of    human   knowleclofe  to 

CD 

which  their  inclinations  lead  them.  It  is 
a  vast  gain  when  a  great  system  of  facts 
that  belongs  inseparably  to  our  religion,  so 
thrusts  itself  in  the  path  of  explorers  who 
do  not  care  for  our  religion,  that  they 
cannot  ignore  them  or  sport  with  them, 
but  are  forced  to  regard  them  as  one  of 
the  serious  elements  in  the  history  and  life 
of  men. 

(2.)  Another  way  in  which  Assyriology 
is  of  use  to  the  Old-Testament  student  is 
this  :  it  brings  into  clear  light  the  essential 
difference  between  the  Hebrews  and  other 
ancient  peoples.  To  lay  more  stress  on 
formal  agreement  than  on  essential  differ- 
ence might  have  been  named  among  the 
abuses  of  Assyriology ;  but  Assyriology 
itself,  to  the  clear-eyed  Christian  schol- 
ar,   works    directly    against    this    abuse. 


46       ASSYEIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

Whether  there  are  agreements  or  dis- 
agreements in  form  between  old  Hebrew 
and  old  Babylonian  documents,  and  what 
these  agreements  or  disagreements  signify, 
is  a  deeply  interesting  inquiry.  But  it  is, 
after  all,  of  secondary  consequence.  It  is 
a  great  mistake  to  stop  with  these  exter- 
nal relationships.  The  thing  which  every 
earnest  Bible  scholar  is  most  concerned  for 
is  that  root-element  w^hich  distinguishes 
the  Hebrew  people  from  all  other  ancient 
peoples,  and  the  Hebrew  writings  from  all 
other  ancient  literatures.  The  one  great 
distinctive  feature  of  the  literary  monu- 
ments of  the  Hebrews  is  that  they  were 
informed  by  a  spirit  to  which  the  inscrip- 
tions of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  are  utter 
strangers.  There  is  a  truth  of  spiritual 
conception,  a  loftiness  of  spiritual  tone,  a  ) 
conviction  of  unseen  realities,  a  confident 
reliance  upon  an  invisible  but  all-control- 
ling power,  a  humble  ^vorship  in  the  pres- 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  47 

ence  of  the  supreme  majesty,  a  peace  in 
union  and  communion  with  the  one  and 
only  God,  and  the  vigorous  germs  of  an 
ethics  reflecting  his  will,  Avhich  make  an 
infinite  gap  between  the  Hebrew  and  his 
brother  Shemite  "  beyond  the  river,"  that 
all  likeness  of  literary  form  does  not  begin 
to  span.  I  do  not  mean  to  contradict 
what  I  have  already  implied,  and  deny  that 
there  was  genuine  religious  feeling  in  the 
valleys  of  the  great  Asiatic  rivers.  In  Bab- 
ylonia, at  least,  we  know  that  there  were 
un quenched  desires  of  the  spirit,  bitter 
consciousness  of  sin,  and  longing  for  its  for- 
giveness, humble  prostration  before  the  un- 
seen Deity,  vague  conceptions  of  his  right- 
eous demands,  and  longings  for  alliance 
with  him,  on  the  part  of  those  who  pain- 
fully exercised  their  souls — "if  haply  they 
might  feel  after  him  and  find  him."  Nor 
do  I  doubt  that  those  desires  and  vague 
gropings  of  the  mind  v/ere  truly  heaven- 


48       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

sent.  But  they  were  exceptional,  and 
they  were  sadly  ineffective.  Go  back 
once  more  to  the  poems  of  creation,  as  the 
cuneiform  tablet  and  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  present  them ;  there  are  formal  re- 
semblances, but  these  cannot  offset,  for 
a  moment,  the  fundamental  difference. 
Comj)are  the  polytheism  of  the  Babylo- 
nian myth,  its  inarticulate  pantheism,  its 
confounding  of  the  gods  with  the  world, 
its  emanation — all  things,  gods  included, 
born  from  the  womb  of  Chaos — with 
the  distinct,  unhesitating,  unobscured  mon- 
otheism of  Genesis,  struck  out  sharply 
and  unmistakably  in  the  first  majestic 
line,  "  In  the  beginning  of  God's  creating 
the  heavens  and  the  earth."  Men  say.  Oh, 
of  course,  the  Hebrews  had  a  purer  concepj- 
tion  of  God.  But  the  point  is  that  this  is 
the  essential  matter;  this  is  what  we  care 
about.  No  doubt  it  has  been  recognized 
and  emphasized  before,  but  we  have  never 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  49 

before  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  so 
plainly  what  it  would  be  to  have  this 
commanding  and  determining  element  left 
out — from  even  one  page — of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. 

The  formal,  external  resemblance — even 
the  correspondence  in  subject-matter  — 
make  this  vital  distinction  so  obvious  as 
to  insist  on  recognition.  And  I  am  per- 
suaded that,  afc  least  as  far  as  the  early 
narratives  of  Genesis  are  concerned,  Chris- 
tian scholars  will  come  more  and  more  to 
the  position  that  it  is  not  the  features  of 
likeness  to  the  Genesis  tablets  of  Baby- 
lonia that  support  the  unique  character  of 
the  Bible  so  much  as  the  absolute  and  ap- 
palling '?^72likeness  in  the  spiritual  concep- 
tions and  temper  by  which  they  are  in-  J 
fused. 

(3.)  But,  in  thinking  of  the  uses  of  As- 
syriology  in  Old  Testament  study,  our 
minds  turn  most  readily,  no  doubt,  to  the 


^ 


50       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

positive  historical  confirmations  and  ex- 
planations which  have  been  awakened  by 
the  blow  of  the  excavator's  pick,  and  risen 
up  before  us  out  of  the  ground.  And  in 
this  aspect  of  it  Assyriology  is  a  mine  of 
wealth.  It  proves,  speaking  broadly,  and 
leaving  out  of  account  for  the  time  the 
occasional  difiiculties  which  it  j)resents, 
that  among  the  nations  of  antiquity, 
whose  literary  remains  have  come  down 
to  us,  the  Hebrews  were  the  only  out- 
siders who  really  knew  much  about  the 
great  Asiatic  empires.  The  stamp  of  hon- 
esty and  competency  is  thus  put  upon 
their  historical  documents,  if  they  needed 
it.  The  Egyptians  were  too  far  away, 
and  came  too  seldom  into  any  relations 
w4th  Babylon  and  Nineveh,  to  be  of  first- 
rate  value  as  witnesses  to  their  deeds. 
The  Greeks  told  fairy-tales  that  enter- 
tained their  readers,  but  were  largely  un- 
true.    The    Hebrews,    ^vith    their    nearer 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  51 

position,  and  more  frequent  and  memo- 
rable contact,  had  also  a  conscientious- 
ness and  skill  in  annalistic  writing  which 
make  their  evidence  in  regard  to  the  his- 
tory of  their  neighbors  important  and 
trustworthy,  though,  of  course,  discon- 
nected. The  inscriptions  which  show  us 
this,  give  us  thereby  a  new  ground  of  con- 
fidence in.  Hebrew  history  as  a  whole. 

It  is  here  impossible  to  give  even  the 
barest  enumeration  of  the  Biblical  in- 
cidents and  events  to  which  Assyriology 
bears  its  testimony.  They  begin  very 
early  in  the  sacred  volume.  Passing  out 
of  the  realm  of  the  legendary  "  Genesis 
tablets,"  we  know — or  think  we  know  ;  it 
is  in  the  highest  degree  probable,  if  not 
yet  demonstrated — where  Abraham's  Ur 
Kasdim  stood,  and  dig  up  bricks  there  that 
must  have  been  inscribed  before  ever 
Terah  had  a  son.  It  was  the  fashion 
amono;  a  certain  school  of  critics,  not  very 


52        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND    ABUSE 

many  years  ago,  to  prove,  and  prove 
again,  the  unhistorical  character  of  Gen. 
xiv. — the  Elainite  campaign  into  Canaan.^ 
Wise  exegetes  are  not  doing  this  now. 
There  is  too  much  light  out  of  the  East. 
The  sun  has  risen  too  hio^h.  Ahab 
and  Jehu,  and  the  league  of  Syrian 
kinoes  ao^ainst  Shalmaneser  IL,  Tio:lath- 
pileser  and  Ahaz  against  Pekah  and 
Kezin,  these  combinations  are  familiar 
now  to  Bible -readers.  The  Sargon  whose 
name  was  preserved  to  us  only  in  a  single 
verse  of  Isaiah  (xx.  1)  has  grown  into  a 
iio;ure  that  aluiost  fills  the  stao;e  of  West- 
ern  Asia  for  sixteen  eventful  years ;  Sen- 
nacherib and  Esarhaddon,  Nebuchadnezzar 
and  Evil  Merodach,  Cyrus  and  the  great 
Darius  Hystaspis,  and  many  kings  be- 
side— the  wedge-shaped  characters  tell  us 
of  them  all.     A  selection  from  the  great 

^  E.g.,  Noldeke  :  Untersuclmngen  zur  Kritik  des  Al- 
ien Testaments,  1869. 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  53 

mass  of  materials  at  hand  may  serve  to 
recall  to  your  minds  some  characteristics 
of  this  new  testimony  which  make  it  in- 
dispensable to  the  student  of  Biblical  his- 
tory. It  will  be  more  profitable  to  con- 
fine ourselves  to  those  cuneiform  records 
which  give  explanations  of  obscure  points 
in  the  Old-Testament  narratives,  rather 
than  to  devote  any  part  of  our  limited 
time  to  the  more  simple  and  obvious  con- 
firmations. 

Look,  then,  for  the  first  illustration,  at 
the  period  when  Ahab  was  involved  in 
hostilities  Avith  Benhadad  II.  of  Damas- 
cus (1  Kings  XX.,  xxii.).  This  Benhadad 
was  son  (xx.  34)  of  a  monarch  of  the  same 
name  who,  at  the  call  of  Asa  of  Judali,  had 
wantonly  broken  the  peace  existing  between 
Baasha  of  Israel  and  himself,  seized  npon 
cities  of  the  northern  kingdom,  and  held 
them  by  no  other  title  than  that  of  might 
(ch,  XV.).     The  son,  not  contented  with  the 


54       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

possession  of  tliat  wliicli  his  father  had 
secured,  marched  against  Samaria  with  a 
large  force,  and  made  the  most  insulting 
and  humiliating  demands.  In  the  battle 
that  ensued  he  was  defeated,  but  himself 
escaped.  The  following  year  he  returned, 
was  again  defeated,  and  this  time  came 
into  the  power  of  Ahab.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, instead  of  visiting  upon  the  head  of 
the  captive  the  injuries  and  insults  Israel 
had  received  from  him  and  his  house, 
welcomed  him  as  a  brother,  and  dismissed 
him  on  the  easy  terms  of  a  restoration  of  the 
cities  taken  by  his  father,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  city  of  Damascus  for  himself  (ch. 
XX.).  We  can  understand  perfectly  well 
how  the  prophet,  for  whom  Benhadad  was 
an  enemy  of  God  as  well  as  of  Israel,  shonld 
have  been  indignant  at  this  motiveless 
clemency  (vv.  35  sq.).  But  the  difficult 
thing  is  to  understand  how  Ahab  could 
have  been  willino^  to  exercise  it,  and  how  it 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  55 

came  about  that  he  was  able  to  secure  an 
acquiescence  of  his  army  in  it.  The  ex- 
planations which  used  to  be  attempted 
ignored  the  latter  point,  and  met  the 
former  lamely  enough.  To  attribute  this 
neglect  of  a  capital  opportunity  for  re- 
venge, and  for  a  vast  extension  of  his  own 
power  to  Ahab's  good  nature,  and  to  his 
"  joy  at  knowing  that  a  crowned  head,  of 
equal  rank  with  himself,  is  still  living,"^ 
assumes  in  Ahab  such  idealistic  views  of 
life  that  it  might  have  been  difficult  for 
Elijah  and  Naboth  and  Mesha,  King  of 
Moab,  to  appreciate  this  theory.  If  any 
one  should  cite  v.  31  ("we  have  heard 
that  the  kings  of  Israel  are  merciful 
kings  ")  in  confirmation  of  this  view,  he 
would  need  to  be  reminded  that  these 
words  are  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  ser- 
vants of  Benhadad  at  a  critical  emergency, 

^Thenius:  Die  Biicher  der  Konige,  2(1  ed.,  p.  243. 
Leipzig,  1873. 


56       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

when  everything  depended  on  savmg  their 
master  from  des23air,  and  not  truth,  but 
immediate  and  decisive  efect  would  be 
their  chief  aim ;  and  besides  this,  that  if 
the  words  really  correspond  to  the  facts, 
then  they  must  apply  not  only  to  Ahab, 
but  also  to  Omri  and  Zimri  and  Elah  and 
Baasha  and  the  rest,  which  makes  rather 
a  severe  strain  upon  our  credulity.  The 
explanation  of  Ewald  ^  is  little  better,  viz  , 
that  Ahab  was  flattered  by  the  humble 
entreaty  of  his  vanquished  rival.  Such 
a  view  would  lead  us  to  ask  whether  it 
would  be  likely  that  a  ruler  who  could  so 
easily  be  carried  away  by  vanity  as  utterly 
to  disregard  his  own  interests,  forget  old 
scores,  and  cast  away  prudent  forethought 
— even  if  he  might  be  conceived  as  re- 
straining his  desire  of  conquest — whether 
it  would  be  likely  that  such  a  ruler  would 

'  History  of  Israel,  Eng.  Trans.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  73.     Lon- 
don, 1871. 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT  STUDY.  57 

maiutaiii  himself  on  the  throne,  amid  all 
the  turbulence  and  the  scheming  of  the 
time,  for  twenty-two  years,  as  Ahab 
did.  This  suggests  again  the  difficulty 
of  making  the  army  calmly  acquiesce  in 
such  leniency.  The  army  would  be  full 
of  irritation  and  of  eagerness  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  victory.  The  government 
was  a  military  despotism,  in  which  the 
soldier  might  raise  his  hand  against  the 
despot.  It  was  because  the  army  sup- 
ported him  that  Omri  had  gained  the 
throne  (ch.  xvi.  16  sq.).  It  was  the  army 
that  afterward  enabled  Jehu  to  carry 
out  his  usurpation  (2  Kings  ix.  13  sq.), 
just  as  it  w^as  doubtless  the  army  of 
the  southern  kingdom  that  brought 
about  the  death  of  Amaziah  of  Judah, 
and  the  establishment  of  Azariah  in 
his  stead  (2  Kings  xvi.  19  sq.).  The 
army  was  a  factor  that  must  be  reck- 
oned   w^ith,   and    Ahab's     army    was  not 


58        ASSYUIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

likely  to  be  gentle  because  Aliab  was 
flattered  or  was  amiably  disposed. 

Further,  to  crown  the  whole,  we  find, 
some  three  years  later,  that  Benhadad  had 
not  given  up  the  important  city  of  Ramoth 
Gilead,  and  that  Ahab  expressly,  and  of  his 
own  motion,  invited  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah 
to  make  with  him  the  campaign  against 
Aram  that  cost  the  Israelitish  king  his  life, 
and  all  to  secure  what  the  most  crude  diplo- 
macy might  have  gained  three  years  before. 

The  inscriptions  of  Shalmaneser  II.  of 
Assyria  give  us  a  key  to  the  riddle.  This 
king  reigned  B.C.  860-825,  and  came  more 
than  once  into  contact  with  the  peoples 
west  of  the  Euphrates.  "  In  the  eponymate 
of  Dayan  Asshur,"  he  tells  us,  he  crossed 
the  Euphrates  and  attacked  and  conquered, 
at  Karkar,  an  army  under  Benhadad  and 
his  allies ;  among  the  latter  was  "  Ahab  of 
Israel."  ^      Now  Dayan    Asshar  was  epo- 

'  See  Eecords  of  the  Past,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  98,  99. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  59 

nym,  b.c.  854.  In  that  year,  then,  Ahab 
was  in  league  with  Benhadad.  But  w^e 
may  infer  from  another  inscription  of  Shal- 
maneser  11. ,  that  Ahab  met  his  death  not 
later  than  B.C.  853.  For  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Ahaziah,  who  reigned  two  years 
(xxii.  51),  and  he,  by  his  brother  Jehoram, 
who  reigned  twelve  years  (2  Ki.  iii.  1), 
after  which  he  was  murdered  by  Jehu  (2 
Ki.  ix.  24).  Now  Slialmaneser  reports 
that  he  received  tribute  from  Jehu,  b.c. 
842.  Jehoram  must  therefore  have  been 
dead  in  842,  and  what  with  his  twelve 
years,  and  Ahaziah's  two,  even  allowing 
for  partial  years  reckoned  as  whole  ones 
(cf.  1  Ki.  XX.  51,  with  2  Ki.  iii.  1), 
Ahaziah  cannot  have  come  to  the  throne 
later  than  b.c.  853.  Taking  this  for  the 
year  of  Ahab's  death,  the  peace  with 
Benhadad,  which  was  three  years  earlier, 
of  course  preceded  the  victory  of  Shal- 
maneser   at    Karkar    in    854.     Thus    we 


60        AS8YEI0L0GY  :    ITS   USE   AiN^D   ABUSE 

have  the  following  simple  historical  com- 
bination :  the  peoples  of  Aram  and  of 
Irsael  had  not  merely  themselves  to  think 
of ;  they  were  not  left  to  settle  their 
affairs  alone.  The  power  of  Assyria  had 
become  an  important  element  in  their  cal- 
culations. It  must  evidently  have  been 
threatening  the  West  as  early  as  855  or 
856.  But  Benhadads  territory  lay  neai'er 
to  Assyria  than  Ahab's  did.  Therefore 
two  things  followed :  First,  that  however 
completely  Ahab  might  have  subdued 
Benhadad,  the  latter's  dominion  was  not 
at  the  time  a  desirable  piece  of  property ; 
it  was  quite  too  much  exposed.  Secondly, 
that  it  was  clearly  for  Ahab's  interest 
to  refrain  from  crippling  Benhadad  so 
thoroughly  that  he  could  not  make  a 
vio;orous  resistance  to  Shalmaneser.  It 
seemed  far  better  for  Israel  that  the  lio^ht- 
ing  with  Assyria,  if  there  was  to  l^e  any, 
should  be  on  Aramaean  (Syrian)   ground. 


1^   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  61 

Therefore  Ahab  let  Benhadad  off  on  easy 
terms.  The  motive  was  one  which  would 
satisfy — not  God's  prophet,  indeed,  but 
— himself,  and  his  soldiers,  Avho  knew 
the  strength  of  Assyria,  and  would  have 
no  fancy  for  an  Assyrian  force  in  their 
land.  When,  after  a  year,  or  more,  Shal- 
maneser  actually  came  across  the  Euphra- 
tes, and  Benhadad  was  forced  to  bear 
the  brunt  of  the  fight  with  him,  Ahab 
of  course  could  not  refuse  to  send  a  con- 
tingent of  men  to  his  assistance.  Other 
princes  did  the  same.  The  battle  at 
Karkar  was  lost,  and  the  league  natu- 
rally fell  apart.  The  next  year,  Ahab, 
with  no  friendly  feelings  toward  Ben- 
hadad, w^ho,  in  addition  to  previous  insults 
and  injuries,  had  led  the  allied  forces  to 
defeat,  took  advantage  of  a  respite  from 
Assyrian  menaces,  and  of  the  probability 
that  the  unfortunate  campaign  of  854 
would  have  weakened  Benhadad  and  lost 


62        ASSYKIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

him  otlier  allies,  and  joined  witli  tlie 
King  of  Judah  to  make  iiis  fatal  expedi- 
tion against  Ramoth-gilead.  Tliis  is  a 
rational,  and  probable,  reconstruction  of 
the  story  of  those  years,  in  the  light  of 
cuneiform  decipherment.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  author  of  the  Books  of 
Kings  took  account  of  all  this  ;  perhaps 
he  did  not  know  it  alL  It  is,  of  course, 
not  our  object  to  prove  the  omniscience 
of  a  writer,  but  only  to  show  what  an 
explanation  of  obscure  points  in  his  writ- 
ing is  afforded  by  the  records  of  Assyria. 

As  a  case  of  a  different  sort,  let  us 
look  at  the  argument,  already  referred 
to,^  for  the  identity  of  ^'  Pul,  the  King 
of  Assyria"  with  Tiglath  Pileser  II  (2 
Kings  XV.  19,  29;  1  Chron.  v.  26).  In 
the  passages  here  referred  to  no  intimation 
is  given  that  the  two  names  belong  to 
one  and  the  same  person.     Yet  the  j^roof 

'  See  above,  p.  27. 


IX   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  63 

to  this  effect  is  conclusive.  And  here, 
again,  I  must  ask  pardon  if  I  give  too 
mucH  of  dry  detail.  Tlie  topic  is  very 
important,  not  only  for  the  understand- 
ing of  these  brief  notices,  but  for  the 
whole  subject  of  Old  Testament  chronol- 
ogy. The  true  state  of  the  case  appears, 
negatively,  from  the  absence,  in  the  un- 
broken line  of  Assyrian  rulers,  of  the 
name  Pul,  as  either  predecessor,  co-regent, 
or  successor  of  Tiglath  Pileser,  or  as  an 
ally,  a  rival,  or  a  tributary  prince.  It 
has  been  argued,  jDositively,  from  the 
following  considerations : 

(a.)  Menahem,  King  of  Israel,  is  named 
by  Tiglath  Pileser  II.  in  an  inscription,  as 
tributary  to  himself.  Now  we  learn  from 
2  Kings  XV.  19,  that  Menahem  bought 
the  favor  of  Pul  by  the  gift  of  a  thousand 
talents  of  silver,  which,  of  course,  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  tribute. 
The   silence   of   Assyrian    inscriptions   of 


64        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE  AND   ABUSE 

this  period  about  any  Pul,  gives  the  oppor- 
tunity for  supposing,  with  no  great  vio- 
lence, that  the  King  to  whom  the  Bible 
declares  Menahem  to  have  been  tributary 
w^as  the  same  with  the  King  whom  the 
inscriptions  name  in  a  like  connection. 
Those  who  invent  a  break  in  the  Eponym 
Canon  ^  ]3ut  the  Menahem  of  the  Bible 
earlier  than  Tiglath  Pileser  II.,  in  order 
to  keep  him  contemporary  with  Pul ;  then 
they  go  further  and  invent  another  Mena- 
hem, unknown  to  the  Bible,  to  pay  tribute 
to  Tiglath  Pileser  and  thus  satisfy  the  in- 
scriptions. The  weight  of  these  t^vo  un- 
supported hypotheses  is  increased  when 
we  remember  that  it  is  the  Biblical  Mena- 
hem who  is  contemjDorary  with  Azariah, 
King  of  Judah,  and  that  this  Azariah, 
also,  is  mentioned  in  the  inscrij)tions  of 
Tiglath  Pileser  11. 

(b.)  But    the    decisive    evidence    comes 

'  See  above,  p.  26. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT  STUDY.  65 

from  anotlier  quarter.  Eusebius  ^  preserves 
some  fragments  of  an  historical  work  by 
one  Alexander  Polybistor,  in  the  course  of 
which  it  is  reported,  on  the  authority  of 
Berossus,  a  Babylonian  priest  of  about 
the  third  century  B.C.,  that  a  "  King  of 
the  Chaldseans,"  reigning  before  Senna- 
cherib, bore  the  name  Phulus.  "  He,'' 
Eusebius  adds,  "  is  said  to  have  invaded 
Judaea."  Now,  even  if  this  were  all,  when 
we  find  Ptolemy,  the  astronomer  and  ge- 
ographer, who  lived  in  the  second  century 
A.D.,  giving,  in  his  list  of  Babylonian  kings, 
based  upon  ancient  records,  the  names  of 
Chinziros  and  Poros  as  kings  of  Babylon 
in  the  year  b.c.  731,  and  remember  how 
easily  /'  and  I  interchange  in  the  passage  of 
words  from  language  to  language,  we 
should  not  be  disinclined  to  connect  this 
Poros  with  the  Phulus  mentioned  in  Euse- 
bius. 

iChron.,  I.  4 


66       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND    ABUSE 

But  tills  is  in  Babylonia,  not  Assyria, 
you  will  say.  True,  and  yet  it  happens 
that  from  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  we 
know  a  good  deal  of  what  was  going  on 
in  Babylonia  at  just  this  time.  Tiglath 
Pileser  II.  was  King  of  Assyria  B.C.  745- 
727,  but  he  takes  pains  to  inform  us  that 
he  extended  his  power  over  Babylonia  as 
well;  he  marched  thither  more  than  once, 
and  describes  these  campaigns  at  length ; 
they  were  so  successful  that  he  even  calls 
himself  "  King  of  Shumir  and  Akkad,"  i.e., 
Southern  and  Northern  Babylonia;  more 
than  this,  he  records  that  there  submitted 
to  him,  in  this  very  year  731,  a  king  of 
Babylonia,  ])y  the  name  of  Uhinzir, — the 
name  that  precedes  Poros  in  Ptolemy's 
list.  To  complete  the  argument  it  must  be 
added  that  Tiglath  Pileser  died  in  b.c.  727, 
and  that  the  first  year  of  JPdros'  successor 
in  Babylon  is  given  in  Ptolemy's  list  as  726. 

It  ^vas,  therefore,  a  reasonable  inference 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  67 

whicli  Professor  Schrader  ^  and  others  drew 
— that  JPoros  (^=^PJiulus=^JPuT)  is  simply 
another  name  for  Tiglath  Pileser  II.  And 
if  this  was  his  name  in  Babylon,  no  scholar 
would  doubt  that  it  might  be  his  name  in 
Israel  as  well. 

Such  was  the  argument  up  to  1884,  and 
I  have  taken  pains  to  give  it  at  some  length, 
to  show  how  it  has  anticipated  the  most 
recent  decipherments,^  which  furnish  a  brill- 
iant confirmation  of  it,  and  settle  the  whole 
question.  Not  only  has  a  cuneiform  list  of 
Babylonian  kings  been  discovered,  running 
parallel  in  j^art  with  the  list  of  Ptolemy, 
showing  its  accuracy,  and,  in  particular, 
exhibiting  the  names  of  Ukinzir  and  Pulto 
as  successive  Babylonian  kings,  during  the 

^  Keilinschriften  u.  d.  Alte  Testament,  2d  ed.,  Giessen, 
1883,  pp.  224-227  sq.  The  argument  is  given  more  fully 
by  the  same  author  :  Keilinschriften  u.  Geschichtsfor- 
schung,  Giessen,  1878,  pp.  -422  sq. 

^  Theoph.  G.  Pinches,  in  Proceedings  of  Soc.  of  Bibl. 
ArchaeoL,  Mav,  1884. 


68        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

years  b.c.  732-727 ;  but  a  Babylonian  cliron- 
icle,  dealing  with  this  period,  is  found  to 
substitute  Tiglath  Fileser  for  Pulu,  Prob- 
ably no  one  will  again  venture  to  say  that 
they  are  not  one  and  the  same.  It  is  prob- 
able that  Put  was  his  private,  Tiglath 
Pilesor  his  ]-oyal  name  (he  seems  not  to 
have  been  of  royal  birth) ;  but  however 
that  may  prove,  the  history  of  the  dis- 
cussion shows  us  once  more  the  value  of 
historic  insight,  and  the  danger  of  allowing 
over-anxiety  for  the  truth  to  force  its  de- 
fenders into  a  position  from  which  advan- 
cing knowledge  may  drive  them  any  day. 

For  our  intelligent  reading  of  2  Kings 
xv^,  this  identification  is  a  distinct  gain. 
It  does  also  involve,  it  is  true,  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  received  dates  of  the  Books  of 
Kings,  according  to  which  both  Menahem 
and  Azariah  were  dead  before  Tiglath  Pi- 
leser  came  to  the  throne,  in  b.c.  745.  But 
this,  too,  is  a  great  gain.     It  helps  us  to 


IX   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  69 

see  that  the  dates  are  corrupt,  and  gives  us 
certain  fixed  points  which  will  aid  in  re- 
storing them  to  something  like  accuracy. 
I  do  not  intend,  however,  to  burden  you 
with  more  figures,  and  beg  you  now  to  pass 
on  to  our  final  group  of  illustrations. 

We  noticed,  a  little  while  ago,^  that  the 
new  Cyrus  inscriptions  offer  a  troublesome 
problem  to  the  defender  of  the  historical 
accuracy  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  by  ignoring 
"  Darius  the  Median."  But  they  give  us,  on 
the  other  hand,  invaluable  guidance  in  the 
interpretation  of  some  other  parts  of  the 
Old  Testament.  I  refer  now,  in  particular, 
to  the  edicts  of  Cyrus  found  in  the  Book 
of  Ezra,  and  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah,  which  have  to  do  with  the  return 
of  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem,  from  their  exile 
in  Babylon.  It  should  be  said,  at  once, 
that  the  two  inscriptions  with  which  we 
are  here  concerned,  do  not  allude  to  the 
'  See  above,  p.  37. 


70        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

Jews  and  their  restoration.  But  the  fact 
of  the  restoration  no  one  can  question. 
The  inquiry  would  be  as  to  the  motive  of 
Cyrus  and  the  manner  of  his  personal 
agency  in  bringing  it  about. 

It  used  to  be  thought — and  this  was  very 
natural — that  Cyrus,  a  Persian,  with  the 
monotheism  of  Zarathustra  in  .his  heart, 
was  showing  especial  favor  to  the  monothe- 
istic religion  of  the  Jews.  The  proclama- 
tions recorded  in  Ezra  i.  2-4  and  vi.  3-5, 
were  supposed  to  have  marks  of  particular 
and  lavish  generosity  on  the  part  of  a  wor- 
shijDper  of  the  one  Ahuramazda,  toward 
the  worshippers  of  the  one  Jehovah,  whom 
he  might  easily  regard  as  Ahuramazda 
under  another  name.^  That  the  people 
were  summoned  to  make  contributions  ior 
the  rebuilding  of  the  temjDle  (i.  4)  was  no 
more  surprising  than  that  the  king's  own 

*See,  e.g.,  Stanley,  Hist,  of  Jewish  Churcli,  vol.  iii.,  p. 
75,  new  ed.,  New  York,  1884. 


IX    OLD   TESTAMENT    STUDY.  71 

treasury  should  be  drawn  upon  for  the 
same  pur|)ose  (vi.  4).  It  has  even  been 
held  that  the  Hebrew  monotheism  itself 
received  a  powerful  impulse  from  contact 
with  that  which,  under  Cyrus,  pervaded 
the  empire.^ 

Such  theories,  however  attractive,  are 
not  borne  out  by  the  new  discoveries. 
For  these  brino;  us  face  to  face  with  the 
fact  that  idolatrous  worships  were  treated 
by  Cyrus  with  like  consideration.  Not 
only  do  the  inscriptions  tell  us  that  he  re- 
paired the  shrine  of  Merodach,  which 
Nabonidus,  the  deposed  Babylonian  king, 
had  neglected,  and  that  he  restored  to 
their  places  the  "  gods  of  Shumir  and 
Akkad,"  i.e.,  favored  the  local  idolatries 
of  the  various  j)arts  of  Babylonia ;  but  we 
learn  from  tliem  that,  on  receiving  the 
tribute  of  all  the  conquered  territories 
which  had  learned  to    recoo:nize   the    su- 

5 Id.  lb.,  p.  162  sq. 


72        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

premacy  of  Babylon,  lie  reinstated  the  gods 
of  tliese  several  lands,  and  assigned  to 
tliem  ''  enduring  seats."  We  see,  there- 
fore, that  the  graciousness  toward  the  re- 
ligion of  a  conquered  people,  and  the  lib- 
eral expenditure  in  its  behalf  illustrated  in 
his  treatment  of  the  Jews,  was  not  pecul- 
iar, but  was  part  of  a  settled  habit,  ac- 
cording to  which  he  treated  the  deities  of 
subject  peoples  with  respect,  and  even  with 
honor. 

We  reach  a  similar  result  when  we  con- 
sider, in  the  light  of  recent  decipherments, 
the  remarkable  expressions  with  regard 
to  Jehovah  which  the  sacred  historian 
puts  into  Cyrus'  mouth  :  "  Jehovah,  God 
of  heaven,  hath  given  me  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth ;  and  he  hath  charged 
me  to  build  him  an  house  at  Jerusalem" 
(Ezra  i.  2).  As  already  hinted,  a  prevail- 
ing opinion  has  been,  not  that  Cyrus  gave 
up    his    own  religion,  but  that  he  found 


IX    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  73 

such  an  ao^reement  between  the  Hebrew 
religion  and  his  own,  that  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews  seemed  to  him  in  substance  iden- 
tical with  his  god.  It  has,  then,  been 
quite  commonly  held  that  the  name 
'^  Jehovah  "  was  not  used  by  him  in  the 
original  proclamation,  of  which  Ezi'a  i.  2-4 
is  a  rescript,  but  that  the  sentiment  to- 
ward Jehovah  there  expressed  was  his 
own  genuine  feeling  toward  Ahuramazda, 
whom  he  recoornized  under  the  Hebrew 
name.^  We  now  have  ground  for  exactly 
reversing  this.  It  is  quite  likely  that  he 
used  the  name  ''Jehovah,"  but  appears 
certain  that  what  he  said  of  Jehovah  had 
much  less  spiritual  significance  than  has 
been  supposed.  One  of  the  Cyrus  inscrijD- 
tions  (the  cylinder)  contains  similar  ex- 
pressions in  regard  to  Merodach,  the  tute- 
lary god  of  Babylon.  Cyrus  calls  Mero- 
dach "  the  great  lord,"   and    "  my   lord." 

^Stanley,  loc.  cH.,  pp.  74,  75. 


74         ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

It  was  "  by  the  command  of  Merodacli,  the 
great  lord,"  he  tells  us,  that  he  reinstated 
the  gods  of  Shumir  and  Akkad.  It  was 
Merodach  that  "  chose  a  king  to  conduct, 
after  his  own  heart,  what  he  committed  to 
his  hand — Cyrus,  King  of  Ansan."  It 
was  "  Merodach,  the  great  lord,"  who  di- 
rected Cyrus'  march  ;  ''  to  his  city  of  Bab- 
ylon his  course  he  summoned,  and  caused 
him  to  take  the  road  to  Tintir  (Babylon)." 
It  will  not  be  claimed  that  this  attitude 
toward  Merodach  excludes  tlie  possibility 
of  a  similar  attitude  toward  Jehovah. 
On  the  contrary,  if  he  thus  speaks  of  the 
tutelary  god  of  the  conquered  Babylon, 
it  is  all  the  more  likely  that  he  should, 
when  concerned  with  another  subject-na- 
tion, speak  of  their  Jehovah  in  the  same 
terms.  But  there  would  be  as  little  of 
exclusive  recognition  and  worship  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other. 

With  this  in  mind  we  may  glance  at  the 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  75 

prophecies  which  foretold  the  agency  of 
Cyrus  ill  overthro^ving  Babylonian  tyr- 
anny, and  restoring  the  Hebrews.  It  is 
not  at  all  surprising  that,  when  they 
looked  into  the  future,  and  discerned  the 
work  of  Cyrus,  the  prophets  should  have 
regarded  him  as  an  agent  of  God,  even  as 
one  especially  chosen  and  anointed  (7"J., 
xlv.  1).  The  priests  of  Merodach  looked 
toward  Cyrus  as  a  deliverer ;  much  more 
naturally  would  the  Hebrews  be  inclined 
to  welcome  him,  and  to  see  the  hand  of 
their  God  in  his  victory,  since  the  conquest 
which  involved  a  foreign  dominion  for  the 
Babylonians,  meant  freedom  for  them. 
The  Old-Testament  predictions  which  sim- 
ply announce  his  coming  to  deliver  the 
Hebrews,  and  punish  their  enemies,  even 
those  which  especially  declare  that  God 
had  raised  him  up,  do  not,  therefore,  re- 
quire particular  comment.  These  predic- 
tions were  fulfilled. 


76        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

But  it  is  manifest  that  tlie  significance 
of  a  prediction  like  that  of  Isaiah  xlv.  1-5 
must  appear  in  a  new  light.  That  part  of 
this  prediction  which  represents  Cyrus  as 
ignorant  that  Jehovah  was  using  him  for 
his  own  purposes  does  not  now  need  expla- 
nation. But  when  we  come  upon  this  ex- 
pression :  "  that  thou  mayst  know  that  I 
am  Jehovah,  which  call  thee  by  thy  name, 
the  God  of  Israel"  (verse  3),  or  this 
other,  in  some  respects  more  noteworthy 
still  (xli.  25)  :  "from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
shall  he  call  upon  (^or  proclaim)  my  name," 
the  case  is  altered.  Even  the  most  recent 
commentator  ^  does  not  hesitate  to  under- 
stand this  as  referring  to  a  subjective 
change  in  Cyrus.  "  It  is  evidently,"  he 
says,  "  a  prediction  of  a  spiritual  change  to 
be  wrought  in  Cyrus  in  consequence  of  his 
wonderful  career."     But  is  it  admissible, 

'  T.  K.  Cheyne  :   Comm.  on  Isaiah,  3d  ed.,  London, 

1884. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  77 

in  view  of  what  we  liave  already  seen,  to 
hold  that  the  predictions  were  fulfilled  in 
this  sense  ?  At  all  events,  not  so  as  to  un- 
derstand what  we  should  mean  by  a  "  con- 
version "  to  Jehovah.  We  must  consider 
the  possibilities  with  some  care.  If  we 
could  be  sure  that  Cyrus  was  at  heart  a 
follower  of  Zarathustra,  we  might  indeed 
believe  that  some  monotheistic  zeal,  con- 
trolled as  to  outward  expression  by  the 
supposed  needs  of  statesmanship,  entered 
into  his  feelins^  toward  Jehovah.  But  no 
inscription  of  his,  yet  found,  breathes 
monotheism.  Darius  Hystaspis  appears 
to  us  in  his  cuneiform  monuments  as  a  zeal- 
ous worshipper  of  Ahuramazda,  but  not 
so  Cyrus.  We  must,  therefore,  for  the 
present,  reason  from  the  postulate  that 
Cyrus  was  not  a  Zarathustrian  at  all. 
Such  impartiality  of  respect  to  different 
deities  as  we  observe  in  him  might  then 
be  due  to  one  of  two  causes.     It  mio^ht  be 


78        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AI^D   ABUSE 

that  he  shared  the  belief  of  his  time  with 
regard  to  the  local  power  of  various 
divinities.  He  might  really  suppose  that, 
since  Merodach  was  god  of  Babylon,  his 
firm  possession  of  Babylon  depended  upon 
Merodach's  favor,  and  that  since  Jehovah 
was  god  of  the  land  of  Israel,  he  must 
pay  due  respect  to  him  in  order  to  retain 
Israel  under  his  control.  In  that  case  a 
real  recognition  of  Jehovah,  and  a  real 
proclamation  of  him  as  a  deity  would  be 
involved,  and  we  should  have  a  distinct, 
though  it  might  seem  a  meagre,  fulfilment 
of  the  prediction.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
might  be  that  the  religious  professions  of 
Cyrus  were  wholly  at  the  service  of  his 
imperial  policy.  He  might  desire  to 
secure  the  favor  of  the  priests  and  people 
of  Babylon  by  honoring  their  deity — • 
avoiding  the  mistake  of  Nabonidus  the 
vanquished  king,  who  seems  to  have  neg- 
lected  that   deity.      In   like    manner,    he 


IN    OLD   TESTAMEiS-T   STUDY.  79 

might  aim,  by  active  interest  for  Jehovah's 
name  and  temple,  simply  to  secure  the  favor 
of  another  people  and  another  priesthood, 
whom  his  policy  led  him  to  restore  to  their 
home  on  an  important  frontier  of  his  em- 
pire. His  religiousness  would  then  be 
assumed,  and  the  whole  design  of  it  would 
be  to  secure  a  more  prompt  recognition 
of  his  own  sovereignty,  and  a  more  en- 
tire submission  to  his  political  measures. 
On  this  view,  the  prophecies  would  take 
on  a  different  meanino;.  We  could  under- 
stand  the  one  as  carried  out  in  the  fact 
that  Cyrus'  deeds  resulted,  without  his 
distinct  j^urpose,  in  "  proclaiming  "  the 
name  of  Jehovah,  because  Jehovah's  people 
was  set  free  and  his  worship  re-established. 
We  could  understand  the  "  that  thou  mayst 
know"  of  Is.  xlv.  3,  as  indicating  the  gra- 
cious design  of  God,  which  might  have 
been  accomplished  if  Cyrus  had  given  in 
his  alleofiance.     Which  of  these  lines  of  in- 


80       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE 

terpretation  is  to  be  preferred,  or  whether 
there  is  some  other  still,  need  not  here  be 
determined.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  the  inscrijDtions  give  us  a  set  of  well- 
attested  facts,  which  have  their  part  to 
play,  and  must  unquestionably  assist  in 
bringing  about  a  future  and  better  under- 
standing of  the  scope  of  prophetic  words. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  many  persons 
would  not  regard  it  an  advantage  to  find 
the  fulfilment  of  these  prophecies  in  a  much 
less  significant  exj)erience  on  the  part  of 
Cyrus  than  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
picture  to  themselves.  But  we  must  never 
forget  that  to  have  our  particular  interpre- 
tations confirmed  is  not  the  object  for 
which  we  are  to  study  the  Bible.  It  is  to 
get  at  the  truth  that  is  in  the  Bible.  If 
our  interpretation  has  been  in  any  respect 
wrong,  then  it  is  a  great  advantage  to  have 
the  means  put  into  our  hand  of  bringing  it 
nearer  the  truth.     Neither  Assyriology  nor 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  81 

any  other  science  may  be  forced  into  the 
service  of  prejudice. 

Ill  this  connection  we  may  inquire  also 
how  far  the  fate  of  Babylon  and  of  its  dei- 
ties corresponds  with  the  predictions  con- 
cernino;  these.  The  seer  declares  that 
''  Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen ;  and  all  the 
graven  images  of  her  gods  he  hath  broken 
unto  the  ground "  (Is.  xxi.  9)  ;  "  Bel 
boweth  down,  Nebo  stoopeth;  their  idols 
were  upon  the  beasts,  and  upon  the  cattle  " 
(xlvi.  1) ;  "  Babylon  is  taken,  Bel  is  con- 
founded, Merodach  is  broken  in  pieces ; 
her  idols  are  confounded,  her  images  are 
broken  in  pieces"  (Jer.  1.  2).  The  de- 
struction of  Babylon  is  to  be  utter :  "  Baby- 
lon shall  become  heaps,  a  dwelling-place 
for  dragons,  an  astonishment  and  a  hiss- 
ing without  an  inhabitant  "  (li.  37).  That 
these  and  like  declarations  became  facts  in 
the  course  of  the  centuries  we  liav^e  not 
needed  cuneiform  inscriptions  to  tell   us. 


82        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   A^D   ABUSE 

But  it  is  worth  noticing  that  in  that  aspect 
of  the  case  with  which  the  prophets  woukl 
be  most  immediately  concerned,  their  pre- 
dictions were  fulfilled  under  Cyrus,  al- 
though— as,  indeed,  we  knew  before — he 
did  not  destroy  Babylon  and  although  he 
did  not  abolish  idolatry.  For  not  only 
was  his  conquest  a  real  humiliation  of  the 
Babylonian  people,  but  also  —  and  this 
would  be  of  prime  interest  to  the  prophets 
— ^it  put  a  stop  to  the  deportation  policy 
of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  his  successors,  and 
secured  a  kind  of  national  life — modest  and 
dependent,  it  is  true — to  the  exiled  He- 
brews. The  Babylonian  oppression  and 
captivity  came  to  an  end  with  Cyrus.  In 
the  case  of  the  idols,  the  matter  is  perhaps 
even  more  obvious.  We  should  hardly,  I 
think,  satisfy  ourselves  with  the  sugges- 
tions ^  which  have  been  made,  to  the  eiffect 

'  Cf .  Canon  George  Kawlinson,  Contemp.  Eeview,  Jan., 
1880,  pp.  96  sq. 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  83 

that,  during  the  capture  of  the  city  of 
Babylon,  actual  breakages  of  idols  might 
naturally  occur,  and  that,  further,  the  con- 
quest of  Cyrus  brought  about  a  change  in 
the  relative  position  of  religions,  Baby- 
lonian and  other  Shemitic  idolatry  going 
down,  and  Zarathustrianisni  coming  up. 
For  Cyrus'  army  entered  Babylon  without 
resistance,  and  even  if  the  last  stronghold 
had  to  be  subdued  by  force,  such  a  break- 
ing of  images  as  might  have  taken  place 
would  be  a  meao-re  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecy.  Its  most  literal  meaning  can 
hardly  have  been  met  by  the  casual  shat- 
tering of  a  few  idols,  to  be  followed  by  an 
honorable  re-establishment  and  worship, 
such  as  Cyrus  brought  about  for  the  Baby- 
lonian gods.  And  it  was  not  a  mere  vic- 
torious monotheism  that  the  prophets  saw 
in  Cyrus'  conquest.  It  was  deliverance  for 
God's  people,  and  a  step  onward  toward 
the  triumph  of  God's  kingdom,  which  they 


84        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE    AINTD    ABUSE 

welcomed  in  it.  The  conflict,  as  they  viewed 
it,  was  between  religions,  no  doubt,  but 
this  in  no  abstract  way.  Its  result  should 
be  to  punish  the  oppressors  of  Jehovah's 
worshippers.  The  gods  of  Babylon  should 
be  shown  up  in  their  utter  powerlessness 
to  protect  those  oj)pressors.  That  in  this 
essential  meaning  of  the  predictions  their 
fulfilment  came  with  Cyrus'  victory  is  plain 
enough ;  the  royal  line  which  had  wrought 
such  harm  to  the  Hebrew  people,  and  so 
defied  their  Almighty  God  and  King,  was 
overthrown.  Their  idols  did  not  save 
them.  It  is  then  as  a  real  and  specific 
accomplishment  of  what  Jehovah's  pro- 
phets had  announced  that  we  may  read 
the  words  of  Cyrus  himself :  "  The  an- 
cient, royal  family,  of  which  Bel  and  Nebo 
had  sustained  the  rule,  ....  faded 
away  when  I  entered  victoriously  into 
Tintir." 


IX    OLD    TESTAMENT    STUDY.  85 

No  one  can  be  more  fully  aware  than  I 
am  myself  how  inadequate  a  notion  such 
a  brief  review,  Avith  illustrations  selected 
almost  at  random,  must  give  of  the  worth 
of  Assyriology  to  the  student  of  the  Old 
Testament.  If  the  attempt  has  been  made 
to  define  somewhat  strictly  the  limits  of  its 
availability,  it  has  been  equally  the  pur- 
pose to  do  such  hurried  justice  as  the  time 
allowed  to  its  value  within  those  limits. 
The  cuneiform  inscriptions  do  not  explain 
all  the  things  that  need  explanation,  from 
Genesis  to  Malachi,  and  they  introduce 
grave  problems  of  their  own.  But  it  is, 
for  all  that,  largely  by  their  aid,  supple- 
mented by  modern  discoveries  in  other 
archaeological  fields,  that  the  inquiries 
about  ancient  peoples,  which  the  eager 
mind  of  our  day  is  putting  so  restlessly, 
can  receive  answers  that  begin  to  satisfy. 
We  are  coming,  by  degrees,  to  a  time  when 
we  may  construct  a  full  and  accurate  liis- 


83        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND    ABUSE 

tory  of  those  lands  and  those  centuries 
which  saw  the  growth,  the  development,  the 
proud  culmination,  the  ruin,  and  the  par- 
tial recovery  of  the  Hebrew  national  life. 
Our  interest  in  that  life  is  unique.  It  was 
the  life  which  preserved  to  the  world  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  of  lords ;  the  life  of 
the  people  to  whom  the  law  was  given,  and 
the  promises  were  entrusted,  and  the  proph- 
ets spoke,  and  the  special  deliverances  of 
God  were  vouchsafed,  that  from  their  midst 
might  spring  the  Deliverer  of  all  men. 

Therefore  it  is  for  us  to  welcome  the 
light  and  knowledge  that  God  has  bestowed 
upon  us;  to  rejoice  in  them  Avith  perfect 
confidence  that  they  are  for  good  and  not 
for  evil ;  to  learn  to  use  them  honorably, 
and  wisely,  as  it  is  fitting  for  Christian 
exegetes  and  critics  to  use  them — and  to  be 
still  on  the  alert,  watching  and  listening 
for  fuller  wisdom,  if  the  divine  Providence 
shall  send  it  to  us. 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  87 

Assyria  has  not  spoken  lier  last  word  to 
men,  and  probably  Mall  not  in  our  day ; 
Egypt  is  full  of  voices,  only  half  inter- 
preted; the  Hittites,  who  once  defied  As- 
syria, and  marched  out  to  fight  Egypt  with 
undaunted  front,  have  hardly  yet  begun  to 
speak  again,  after  a  long  stillness.  Other 
words  beside,  uttered  ages  ago,  but  not  yet 
audible  to  modern  ears,  may  be  on  their 
way  to  us,  out  of  the  remote  distance  of 
the  centuries.  It  is  for  us  to  catch  these 
messages  and  understand  them,  that  we 
may  fit  them  into  the  great  fabric  of  ap- 
prehended and  acknowledged  truth,  to  the 
enrichment  of  ourselves,  and  those  who 
shall  be  reached  by  our  ministry,  and  to 
the  glory  of  our  common  Lord. 


88     assyrtology:  its  use  and  abuse 


LITERATURE. 


The  books  here  named,  for  the  most  part 
easily  accessible,  treat  exclusively  or  in  jDart 
of  the  relations  between  Assyriology  and 
the  Old  Testament : 

Ebebhard  Scheader  (Prof,  at  Berlin) :  Die  Keilin- 
schriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  Giessen,  1872  ;  2cl 
ed.,  greatly  enlarged,  Giessen,  1883,  pp.  viii,  618.  The 
author  is  one  of  the  leaders  among  Assyriologists.  His 
book  contains  inscriptions  in  transliteration,  transla- 
tions into  German,  abundant  notes,  discussions,  and 
glossaries.  It  has  also  a  valuable  chronological  ex- 
cursus. The  section  on  the  Babylonian  Deluge-tab- 
lets is  contributed  by  Paul  Haupt  (Prof,  at  Gottin- 
gen  and  Johns  Hopkins  Univ.,  Baltimore). 

Cunningham  Geikie  (London)  :  Hours  with  the  Bible  ;  or, 
The  Scriptures  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Discovery  and 
Knowledge,  6  vols.,  London,  1880-84  ;  New  York,  1881- 
84,  pp.  xiv,  512 ;  520 ;  xxi,  493  ;  xvi,  492  ;  496  ;  vi, 
544  (Am.  Ed.).  A  good  compilation.  The  best  book 
in  English  covering  th'e  whole  ground.     Illustrated. 

E.  ViGOUBOUx  (Priest  of  St.  Sulpice,  Paris)  :  La  Bible  et 
les  Decouvertes  Modernes,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1877;  3d  Ed., 
4  vols.,  Paris,  1881  (my  copy  has  1882  on  outside),  pp. 
X,  459  ;  552  ;  559  ;   572.      An   excellent   compilation, 


IN    OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  89 

dealing  with  discoveries  in  Palestine  and  Egypt,  as 
well  as  Assyria;  profusely  illustrated,  and  brought 
well  up  to  the  date  of  issue. 

William  Habkis  Eule  (Croydon,  Eng.)  and  J.  Corbet 
Andeeson:  Biblical  Monuments.  Croydon,  1871-73, 
pp.  xvi,  263.  Valuable  chiefly  for  plates.  Very  fine 
heliotype  reproductions  of  sculptures,  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions, and  MSS.  in  various  languages. 

The  following  are  either  brief  or  limited 
to  particular  topics : 

Geoege  Smith  (British  Museum  ;  d.  1876)  :  The  Chaldean 
Account  of  Genesis.  London  and  New  York,  1876.  Ee- 
vised  ed.,  by  A.  H.  Sayce,  London  and  New  York, 
1880,  pp.  xxiv,  337.  The  first  connected  account  of 
the  "  Genesis-tablets."  Illustrated.  A  German  trans- 
lation, George  Smith's  Chaldaische  Genesis,  Leipzig, 
1876,  pp.  xiv,  321,  contains  a  preface  and  valuable 
notes  by  Friedrich  Delitzsch. 

. :  Assyrian  Discoveries.     London  and  New 


York,  1875,  pp.  xvi,  461.     Illustrated. 

FRANgois  Lenoemant  (Prof,  at  National  Library,  Paris  ;  d. 
1883) :  Les  Origines  de  VHlstoire,  d'apres  la  Bible  et  les 
Traditions  des  Peuples  Orientaux.  Vol.  I.,  Paris,  1880, 
pp.  xxii,  630  ;  vol.  II.,  1,  Paris,  1882,  pp.  561  ;  vol. 
11.,  2  (posthumous),  Paris,  1881.  A  work  of  great 
learning  and  brilliant  execution. 

The  Beginnings  of  History,    according  to 


the  Bible  and  the  Traditions  of  Oriental  Peoples.     From 


90        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE    AXD   ABUSE 

the  Creation  of  Man  to  the  Deluge.     (Trans,  of  vol.  I., 
above.)      New  York,  1882,  pp.  xxx,  588. 

E.  ScHRADER  (Berlin)  :  Die  Keilinschriften  und  die  Ge- 
schichtsforschung.  Giessen,  1878,  pp.  viii,  556.  Excel- 
lent discussions  of  particular  historical  questions  ;  e.g., 
Aliab,  the  Eponym  Canon,  Tiglath  Pileser,  etc. 

Friedrigh  Delitzsch  (Prof,  at  Leipzig)  :  Wo  Lag  Das 
Paradies  ?  Eine  Biblisch-Assyriologische  Studie.  Leip- 
zig, 1881,  pp.  viii,  346.  The  author  is  in  the  first 
rank  of  Assyriologists.  He  endeavors  to  locate  the 
garden  of  Eden  in  Babylonia. 

Paul  Haupt  (Prof,  at  Gottingen  and  Baltimore)  :  Dei' 
Keilinschriftliche  Sintjiuthhericht.  Leipzig,  1881,  pp. 
viii,  30. — The  Cuneiform  Account  of  the  Deluge  (trans. 
of  above,  slightly  abridged,  and  without  the  notes,  by 
S.  Burnham),  Old  Testament  Student,  Nov.,  1883. 

Henry  G.  Tomkins  :  Studies  in  the  Times  of  Abraham, 
I.     London,  1879,  pp.  xviii,  228.     Fine  plates. 

George  Evans  (Hibbert  Fellow)  :  An  Essay  on  Assyri- 
ology.  London,  1883,  pp.  75  (a  cuneiform  text  ap- 
pended). 

A.  H.  Sayce  (Prof,  at  Oxford)  :  Fresh  Light  from  the 
Ancient  Monuments  (By-paths  of  Bible  Knowledge, 
III.).  London,  Keligious  Tract  Society,  n.  d.  [1883J, 
pp.  199.     Hlustrated. 

:   The  Ancient  Empires  of  the  East.    London 

and  New  York,  1884,  pp.  xxiv,  301  (Am.  Ed.). 

George  Eawlinson  (Canon  and  Prof,  at  Oxford)  :  His- 
torical Illustrations  of  the  Old  Testament.  London,  So- 
ciety for  Prom.  Christian  Knowledge,  n.  d.     American 


IN   OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  91 

editions  with  different  imprints.  My  edition  was 
copyrighted  1873,  and  bears  date  on  title-page,  Chi- 
cago, 1880,  pp.  X,  237.     Now  somewhat  antiquated. 

■ —  :   The  Origin  of  Nations.     London,  Relig. 


Tract  Soc.  [1877] ;  New  York,  1881,  pp.  xiv,  283  (Am. 
Ed.). 


:    The  Religions  of  the  Ancient  World.     Lon- 

don,  Eel.  Tract  Soc.  [1883]  ;  New  York,  1883,  pp.  xiv, 
249  (Am.  Ed.). 

:  Egypt  and  Babylon,  from  Sacred  and  Pro- 


fane Sources.     New  York  and  London,   1885,  pp.  329 
(Am.  Ed.). 

W".  H.  Rule  :  Oriental  Records,  L,  Monumental,  II.,  His- 
torical   London,  1877,  pp.  iv,  217  ;  ii,  242. 

Translations  (frequently  imperfect)  of 
Assyrian  and  Babylonian  documents  may 
be  found  in  : 

Records  of  the  Past,  vols.  I. -XII.  London,  n.  d.  [1873- 
81].  Only  the  0(i(Z  vols,  contain  Assyrian  and  Baby- 
lonian documents,  the  even  vols.,  Egyptian.  The  vols, 
are  small  and  designed  for  popular  use. 

Useful  references  (incidental)  are  found 
in: 

W.  Robertson  Smith  (Cambridge,  Eng. ) :  The  Prophets 
or  IsR.AjEL.  Edinburgh  and  New  York,  1882,  pp.  xvi, 
441. 


92        ASSYEIOLOGY  :    ITS    TISE    AND   ABUSE 

Charles  Beuston  (Montauban) :  Histoire  Critique  de  la 
Litterature  Prophetique  des  Hebreux.  Paris,  1881,  pp. 
viii,  272. 


Small,  popular  histories  are : 

M.  E.  Haekness  :  Assyrian  Life  and  History.  London, 
1883.  (By-Paths  of  Bible  Knowledge,  II.)  Illus- 
trated. 

Ernest  A.  W.  Budge  (British  Museum) :  Babylonian  Life 
and  History.  London,  1884  (Bv-paths  of  Bible  Knowl- 
edge, v.),  pp.  168.     Illustrated. 

E.  MiJRDTER  (Stuttgart)  :  Kurzgefasste  Geschichte  Bahy- 
loniens  und  Assyriens.  Stuttgart,  1882,  pp.  viii,  279. 
Illustrated.  Preface  and  Appendix  by  Friedrioh 
Delitzsch. 


For    reference    are    also    to    be    recom- 
mended : 

Max  Duncker  :   Geschichte  des  Alter thums,  5  vols.,  5tli  ed. 
Leipzig,  1878-81. 

:  History  of  Antiquity  (Eng.  trans,  of  above. 


by  Evelyn  Abbott,  Fellow  and  Tutor,  Balliol  Coll., 
Oxford),  6  vols.     1877-82. 

George  Rawltnson  :  The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the 
Ancient  Eastern  World,  3  [4]  vols.  London,  1862-67 : 
4th  ed.,  London,  1879.     New  York,  1880. 


IN   OLD    TESTAMENT   STUDY.  93 

All  recent  critical  Commentaries  on  the 
historical  and  prophetical  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  recognize  the  results  of  cunei- 
form decipherment).  Many  valuable  ar- 
ticles on  the  subject  will  also  be  found 
scattered  through  various  jDeriodicals,  and 
in  the  Transactions  of  learned  Societies. 

Much  important  information  will  be 
found  in  recent  Encyclopaedias.  See,  in 
particular,  articles  on  Assyriological  topics 
in  the  following : 

Real-Eiicydopddie  filr  protestantlsche  Theologie  und  Ki?'- 
c7ie,  ed.  by  Herzog,  Plttt,  and  Hauck.  Leipzig,  vols. 
I. -XV.,  1877-85.  (Assyriol.  articles  largely  by  Feiedr. 
Delitzsch.) 

A  Religious  Encyclopaedia  ;  or,  Dictionary  of  Biblical, 
Historical,  Doctrinal  and  Practical  Theology.  Based  on 
the  Real-Encyclopddie  of  Herzog,  Plitt,  and  Hauck,  ed. 
by  Philip  Schapf.     3  vols.     New  York,  1882-84:. 

Calmer  Bibellexico)i.  Biblisches  Handworterbucli,  illust- 
riert.  1  vol.  in  8  parts,  ed.  by  P.  Zeller,  Calw  and 
Stuttgart,  188-1.     (Assyriol.  arts,  by  Friedr.  Delitzscli. ) 

Encyclopaedia  Britamiica,  9tli  ed.,  London  and  New  York, 
vols.  I.-XVIII.,  1878-85.  (Assyriological  arts,  by  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson,  A.  H.  Sayce,  W.  R.  Smith,  etc.) 


94       ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS   USE   AND   ABUSE 

Encyclopoedia  Americana  (American  Sni^i^lement  to 
above) ;  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  London,  vols. 
I.,  11. ,  1883-84 

Encyclopedie  des  Sciences  Religieuses,  ed.  by  F.  Lichten- 
BERGEB.  13  vols.  Pavis,  1877-82.  (Assyriological  arts. 
by  Jules  Oppert,  Philippe  Beegee,  etc.) 

Witli   special   reference    to    Chronology 
may  be  named : 

George  Smith  :  The  Assyrian  Eponym  Canon.  London, 
n.  d.  [1875],  pp.  viii,  206.  To  be  used  with  some  cau- 
tion. 

Fritz  Hommel  (Munich)  :  Ahriss  der  Babylonisch-Assyr- 
ischen  und  Israelitischen  Geschichie  .  .  .  i7i  Ta- 
bellenform.  Leipzig,  1880,  pp.  20.  Gives  on  the  whole 
the  best  survey,  and  is  very  convenient.  Some  details 
need  modification. 

Adolph  Kamphausen  (Bonn)  :  Die  Chronologie  der  He- 
brdischen  Konige.     Bonn,  1883,  pp.  104. 

Victor  Floigl  (Graz)  :  Die  Chronologie  der  Bihel,  des 
Manetho  und  Beros.     Leipzig,  1880,  pp.  x,  287. 

. :  Cyrus  und  Herodot  nach  den  neugefundenen 


Keilinschriften.     Leipzig,  1881,  pp.  198. 

:    Geschichte  des  Semitischen  Alterthums,  in 


Tahellen.  Leipzig,  1882,  pp.  97,  with  5  large  folding- 
tables. — The  last  three  books  are  full  of  ingenuity,  but 
also  of  wild  speculation. 


US'  OLD   TESTAMENT   STUDY.  95 

Following  is  a  selected  list,  arranged  al- 
phabetically by  authors,  of  brief  treatises 
and  addresses  bearing  on  our  subject,  and 
published  since  1878  on  the  continent  of 
Europe : 

£lie  Bonnet  (Clairac,  France)  :  Les  Decouvertes  Assyri- 
ennes  et  le  Livre  de  la  Genese.  Montaubai],  ISStt,  pp. 
119. 

EuDOLP  BuDDENSiEG  (Dresden)  :  Die  Assyrischen  Aus- 
grabungen  und  das  Alte  Testament.  Heilbronn,  1880 
(Zeitfragen  des  christlichen  Volkslebens,  No.  27),  pp. 
76. 

Max  BiJDiNGER  (Vienna) :  Die  neuentdeckten  Inscliriften 
uber  Cyrnis.  Vienna,  1881  (Sitzungsberichte  der  phil.- 
hist.  Classe  der  kaiseii.  Akad.  d.  Wissenscliaften, 
1880),  pp.  17. 

A.  Delattre  (S.  J.)  :  Les  Liscriptions  Historiques  de 
Ninive  et  de  Bahylone.     Paris,  1879,  pp.  90. 

August  Dillmann  (Berlin)  :  Ueher  die  Herkuvft  der  ur- 
geschichtlichen  Sagen  der  Hebrder.  Berlin,  1882  (Sitz- 
ungsberichte der  konigl.  preuss.  Akad,  d.  Wiss.),  pp. 
14. — On  the  Origin  of  the  Primitive  Historical  Traditions 
of  the  Hebi^ews  (trans,  of  above,  by  G.  H.  Whittemoee), 
Bibliotheca  Sacra,  July,  1883. 

Philipp  Keiper  (Zweibriicken)  :  Die  neuentdechten  In- 
schr'ften  uber  Cyrus.  Zweibriicken,  1882  (Programm), 
pp.  37. 


96        ASSYRIOLOGY  :    ITS    USE   AND   ABUSE. 

W.  LoTz  (Erlangen):  Quoestionum  de  Historia  Sahbati 
Lihri  Duo.  Leipzig,  1883  (Habilitationsrede),  pp.  109. 
Also  Tinder  title  Qucestiones  de  Historia  Sahbati.  Leip- 
zig, 1883,  pp.  112  (some  notes  added). 

W.  NowACK  (Strassburg)  :  Die  assyriscli-babylonischen 
Keil-Inschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament.  Berlin,  1878, 
pp.  28. 

Anton  Scholz  (Wurzburg) :  Die  Keilsclirifturliunden  und 
die  Genesis.     "Wurzburg  and  Vienna,  1877,  pp.  91. 

Eduaed  Suess  (Vienna) :  Die  Sintflutli,  Eine  geologische 
Siudie.  Prag  and  Leipzig,  1883  (from  "  Das  Antlitz 
derErde"),  pp.  74. 

C.  P.  TiELE  (Leiden)  :  De  vrucht  der  Assyriologie  voor  de 
vergelijkend,e  geschiedenis  der  godsdiensten.  Amster- 
dam, 1877.  German  Trans,  by  K.  Feiedeeici  :  Die 
Assyriologie  und  Hire  Ergehnisse  filr  die  Vergleichende 
ReligionsgescJtichte.     Leipzig,  n.  d.  [1878],  pp.  24. 

Geoeg  Feiedeich  Ungee   (Wiirzburg)  :    Kyaxares   und 
.    Astyages.      Munich,    1882    (from   Abhandlungen  der 
konigl.  bayer.  Akad.  d.  Wissensch.),  pp.  85. 


Biblical  Study: 

ITS  PRINCIPLES,    METHODS,    AND  A    HISTORY   OF  ITS 

BRANCHES;    TOGETHER    WITH  A    CATALOGUE 

OF    A    REFERENCE    LIBRARY    FOR 

BIBLICAL   STUDY. 

By   CHARLES    A.    BRIGGS,    D.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  HF.BKE\V  AND  COGNATE  LANGUAGES  IN   UNION  THEOI.OGItAL  SRMINARV. 


One    vol.,  cro"wn    octavo,  cloth,   $2.50. 


Professor  Briggs's  book  is  admirably  adapted  for  the  use 
of  the  great  number  of  readers  and  Bible  students  who  desire 
to  know  the  results  of  the  most  recent  investigation  and  the 
best  modern  scholarship  in  the  field  of  biblical  study.  Without 
such  a  guide  it  is  impossible  to  comprehend  the  discussions 
which  now  agitate  the  religious  world  as  to  the  canon,  the 
languages,  the  style,  the  text,  the  interpretation,  and  the  criti- 
cism of  Scripture.  Each  of  these  departments,  with  other 
kindred  topics,  is  treated  in  a  brief  but  thorough  and  compre- 
hensive manner,  and  their  history  and  literature  are  presented 
together  with  their  present  aspect. 


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OUTLINES   OF   PRIMITIVE  BELIEF 

among  the  Indo-European  Eaces. 

By  CHARLES  FRANCIS  KEARY,  M.A., 

o/  the   British   Museum. 


One  vol,  crown  Svo.f  -  _  -  _         $2.i)Oo 

Mr.  Keary'3  Book  is  not  simply  a  rcies  of  essays  in  comparative  myth- 
ology, it  is  a  history  of  the  legendary  beliefs  of  the  Indo-European  races 
drawn  from  their  language  and  literature.  Mr.  Keary  has  no  pet  theory  to 
estabhsh  ;  he  proceeds  in  the  spirit  of  the  inquirer  after  truth  simply,  and 
his  book  is  a  rare  example  of  patient  research  and  unbiased  opinion  in  a  most 
fascinating  fie.d  of  exploration. 

"  We  have  an  important  and  singularly  interesting  contribution  to  our  knowledge 
of  pre-historic  creeds  in  the  Outlines  of  pre-historic  Belie/ aiTio>/g  the  Indo-K^iropeait 
Races,  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Keary,  of  the  British  Museum.  No  contemporary  essayist  in 
tlie  field  of  comparative  mythology — and  we  do  not  except  Max  MuUer — has  known 
how  to  embellish  and  Illumine  a  work  of  scientific  aims  and  solid  worth  with  so  much 
imaginative  power  and  literary  charm.  There  are  chapters  in  this  volume  that  are  as 
persuasive  as  a  paper  of  Matthew  Arnold's,  as  delightful  as  a  poem.  The  author  is 
not  only  a  trained  inquirer  but  he  presents  the  fruits  of  his  research  with  the  skill  and 
felicity  of  an  artist." — Neiv  York  ^u>t. 

"Mr.  Keary,  having  unusual  advantages  in  the  British  Museum  for  studying 
comparative  philology,  has  gone  through  all  the  authorities  concerning  Hindoo, 
Greek,  early  Norse,  modern  European,  and  other  forms  of  faith  in  their  early  stages, 
and  there  has  never  before  been  so  thorough  and  so  captivating  an  exposition  of  them 
as  that  given  in  this  hooVy —Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORY. 

AN  INTRODUC  riON  TO  PRE-HISTORIC  STUDY. 
Edited  by  C.   F.    KEARY,   M.A., 

OF-    THE    BKITISH    MUSKUM. 


One  Volume,  12mo.,  _  -  -  $1.26. 

This  work  treats  successively  of  the  earliest  traces  of  man  in  the  re- 
mains discovered  in  caves  or  elsewhere  in  different  parts  of  Europe:  of 
language,  its  growth,  and  the  story  it  tells  of  the  pre  histoi  ic  users  of  it ;  of 
the  races  of  mankind,  early  social  life,  the  religions,  mythologies,  and  folk- 
tales of  mankind,  and  of  the  history  of  writing.  A  list  of  authorities  is 
appended,  and  an  index  has  been  prepared  specially  for  this  edition. 


"  The  book  may  be  heartily  recommended  as  probably  the  most  satisfactory 
snmmarv  of  the  subject  that  there  is." — Nat  ion. 

''  A 'fascinating  manual,  without  a  vestige  of  the  dullness  usually  charged  asrainst 
scientific  works.  ...  In  its  wav,  the  work  is  a  model  of  what  a  popular  scientific 
"ork  should  be  ;  it  is  readable,  it  is'easily  understood,  and  its  style  is  simple,  yet  dig- 
nified, avoiding  equally  the  affection  of  the  nursery  and  of  the  laboratory.    — 

Boston  Sat.  Eve.  Gazette. 

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THEBEGINNINGSOFHISTORY 

According  to  the  Bible  and  the  Traditions  of  the  Oriental  Peoples.  Froiv 
the  Creation  of  Man  to  the  Deluge  By  Francois  LenormanT; 
Professor  of  Archoeology  at  the  National  Library  of  France,  etc, 
(Translated  from  the  Second  P'rench  Edition).  With  an  introduction 
by  Francis  Brown,  Associate  Professor  ia  Biblical  Philology. 
Union  Theological  Seminary. 


1   Vol,,  12mo    600   pages,         -  -  «        $2,ri0. 


"  What  should  we  see  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  ?  "  writes  M.  Lenor- 
mant  in  his  preface— "A  revealed  narrative,  or  a  human  tradition,  gathered 
up  for  preservation  by  inspired  writers  as  the  oldest  memory  of  their  race  ? 
This  is  the  problem  which  I  have  been  led  to  examine  by  comparing  the  nar- 
rative of  the  Bibl  0  with  those  which  were  current  among  the  civilized  peo- 
ples of  most  ancient  origin  by  which  Israel  was  surrounded,  and  from  the 
midst  of  which  it  came." 

The  boi^k  is  not  more  erudite  than  it  is  absorbing  in  its  interest.  It  has 
had  an  immense  influence  upon  contemporary  thought  ;  and  has  approached 
its  task  with  a-i  unusual  mingling  of  the  reverent  and  the  scientific  spirit. 


"  That  the  '  Oriental  Peoples  '  had  legends  on  the  Creation,  the  Fall  of  Man,  the 
Deluge,  and  other  primitive  events,  there  is  no  denying.  Nor  is  there  any  need  o. 
denying  it,  as  this  admirable  volume  shows.  Mr.  Lencrmant  is  not  only  a  believer 
'xi  revelation,  but  a  devout  confessor  of  what  came  by  Moses  ;  as  well  as  of  what  came 
"by  Christ.  In  this  explanation  of  Chaldean,  Babylonian,  Assyrian  and  Phenician 
tradition,  he  discloses  a  prodigality  of  thought  and  skill  allied  to  great  variety  of  pur- 
suit, and  diligent  manipulation  of  what  he  has  secured.  He  'spoils  the  Egyptians' 
by  boldly  using  for  Christian  purposes  materials,  which,  if  left  unused,  might  be 
turned  against  the  credibility  of  the  Mosaic  records. 

"■  From  the  mass  of  tradition  here  examined  it  would  seem  that  if  these  ancient 
legends  have  a  common  basis  of  truth,  the  first  part  of  Genesis  stands  more  generally 
related  to  the  religious  history  of  mankind,  than  if  it  is  taken  primarily  as  one  account, 
by  one  man,  to  one  people.  .  .  .  While  not  claiming  for  the  mthor  the 
setting  forth  of  the  absolute  truth,  nor  the  drawing  from  what  he  has  set  forth  the 
soundest  conclusions,  we  can  assure  our  readers  of  a  diminishing  fear  of  learned  un- 
behef  after  the  perusal  of  this  work." — TAe  Neiv  Englander. 

"  With  reference  to  the  book  as  a  whole  it  may  be  said  ;  (i).  That  nowhere  else  can 
one  obtain  the  mass  of  information  upon  this  subject  in  so  convenient  a  form;  (2).  That 
the  investigation  is  conducted  in  a  truly  scientific  manner,  and  with  an  eminently 
Christian  spirit  ;  (3).  That  the  results,  though  very  different  from  those  in  common 
acceptance,  contain  much  that  is  interesting  and  to  say  the  least,  plausible  ;  (4).  That 
th3  author  while  he  seems  in  a  number  of  cases  to  be  injudicious  in  his  state- 
ments and  conclusions,  has  done  work  in  investigation  and  in  vyorking  out  details  that 
will  be  of  service  to  all,  whether  general  readers  or  specialists." — The  Hebreia 
Student. 

'■-  The  work  is  one  that  deserves  to  be  studied  by  all  students  of  ancient  history,  and 
!n  particular  by  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  whose  ofifice  requires  them  to  interpret  tht 
Scriptures,  and  who  ought  not  to  be  ignorant  of  the  latest  and  most  interesting  con. 
tribution  of  science  to  the  elucidation  to  the  sacred  volume."— iW7£/  York  Tribune, 


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Final  Causes, 

MEMBER    OF   THE    FRENCH    ACADEMY. 

Translated  fro7n  the  Second  French  Edition.      With  a  Preface  bj 
Robert  Flint,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


One   Vol.    8vo.,       -       -       _       Price,    $2.50 


"  Here  is  a  book  to  which  we  give  the  heartiest  welcome  and  the  study  of 
which — not  reading  merely — we  commend  to  all  who  are  seeking  to  solve  the  question 
whether  the  universe  is  the  product  of  mind  or  of  chance.  .  .  .  Perhaps  no  living 
author  has  been  more  thoroughly  trained  by  previous  studies  for  the  work  done  here 
than  Mr.  Janet;  and  no  one  is  better  fitted  for  it  by  original  gifts." — Universalist 
Quarterly, 

"I  regard  'Janet's  Final  Causes'  as  incomparably  the  best  thing  in  litera- 
ture on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
man  who  has  any  interest  in  the  present  phases  of  the  theistic  problem.  I  am  very 
glad  that  you  have  brought  out  an  edition  for  the  American  public  and  at  a  price 
that  makes  the  work  acceptable  to  ministers  and  students.  I  have  commended  it  to 
my  classes  in  the  seminary,  and  make  constant  iise  of  it  in  my  instructions." — From 
a  letter  of  Professor  Francis  L.  Pat  ton  ^  D.  D. 

"  I  am  delighted  that  you  have  published  the  translation  of  Janet's  '  Final 
Causes '  in  an  improved  form  and  at  a  price  which  brings  it  within  the  reach  of  many 
who  desire  to  possess  it.  It  is  in  my  opinion  the  most  suggestive  treatise  on  this  im- 
portant topic  which  is  accessible  in  our  language,  and  is  admirably  fitted  to  meet 
many  of  the  misleading  and  superficial  tendencies  of  the  philosophy  of  a  popular 
but  superficial  school." — Extract  from  a  letter  of  Noah.  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
President  of  Yale  College. 

'^  The  most  powerful  argument  that  has  yet  appeared  against  the  unwar- 
ranted conclusions  which  Haeckel  and  others  would  draw  from  the  Darwinian 
Theory.  That  teleology  and  evolution  are  not  mutually  exclusive  theories,  M. 
Janet  has  demonstrated  with  a  vigor  and  keenness  that  admit  of  no  reply." — Tke 
£xa?niuer. 

"  No  book  of  greater  importance  in  the  realm  of  theological  philosophy  has 
appeared  during  the  past  twenty  years  than  Paul  Janet's  '  Final  Causes.'  The 
central  idea  of  the  work  is  one  which  the  whole  course  of  scientific  discussion  has 
made  the  burning  question  of  the  day,  viz :  That  final  causes  are  not  inconsistent 
with  physical  causation." — Indefetident. 


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The  Theory  of  Preaching, 

OR 

LECTURES     ON     HOMILETICS. 

By    Professor    AUSTIN    PHELPS,    D.D. 


One  volume..  Svo,  -----         $2.50 

This  work,  now  offered  to  the  public,  is  the  growth  of 
more  than  thirty  years'  practical  experiei;ce  in  teaching. 
While  primarily  designed  for  professional  readers,  it  will  be 
found  to  contain  much  that  will  be  of  interest  to  thoughtful 
laymen.  The  writings  of  a  master  of  style  of  broad  and 
catholic  mind  are  always  fascinating;  in  the  present  case  the 
wealth  of  appropriate  and  pointed  illustration  renders  this 
doubly  the  case. 

CRITIC  A  li     NOTICES. 

"In  the  range  of  Protestant  homiletical  literature,  we  venture  to  affirm  that  Its  equal 
cannot  be  found  for  a  conscientious,  scholarly,  and  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  preaching.  *  *  *  Yq  t^g  treatment  of  his  subject  Dr.  Phelps  brings 
su  :h  qualifications  as  very  few  men  now  living  possess.  His  is  one  of  those  delicate  and 
sensitive  natures  which  are  instinctively  critical,  and  yet  full  of  what  JVIatthew  Arnold 
happily  calls  sweet  reasonableness.  *  *  *  '^'o  this  characteristic  graciousness  of 
nature  Dr.  Phelps  adds  a  style  which  is  preeminendy  adapted  to  his  special  work.  It  is 
nervous,  epigrammatic,  and  racy." — The  Examiner  and  Chronicle. 

"  It  is  a  wise,  spirited,  practical  and  devout  treatise  upon  a  lopic  of  the  utmost  con- 
sequence to  pastors  and  people  alike,  and  to  the  salvation  of  niankmd.  It  is  elaborate 
but  not  redundant,  rich  in  the  fruits  of  experience,  yet  thoroughly  timely  and  current, 
and  it  easily  takes  the  very  first  rank  among  volumes  of  its  class. —  'Jhe  Congrega- 
tionalist. 

"The  layman  will  find  it  delightful  reading,  and  ministers  of  all  denominations  and 
of  all  degrees  of  experience  will  rejoice  in  it  as  a  veritable  mine  of  wisdom." — Ne-iv  York 
Christian  Advocate. 

"The  volume  is  to  be  commended  to  young  men  as  a  superb  example  of  the  art  in 
which  it  aims  to  instruct  them." — The  Inde/>efide?it. 

"The  reading  of  it  is  a  mental  tonic.  The  preacher  cannot  but  feel  often  his  heart 
burning  withm  him  under  its  influence.  We  could  wish  it  might  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
theological  student  and  of  every  pastor."  —  The  IVatchynan. 

"Thirty-one  years  of  experience  as  a  professor  of  homiletics  in  a  leading  American 
Theological  Seminary  by  a  man  of  genius,  learning  and  power,  are  condensed  into  this 
valuable  volume.''''—  Christian  Intelligencer. 

"  Our  professional  readers  will  make  a  great  mistake  if  they  suppose  this  volume  is 
simply  a  heavy,  monotonous  discussion,  chiefly  adapted  to  the  class-room.  It  is  a 
delightful  volume  for  general  reading." — Boston  Zion's  Herald. 


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Religion  and  Chemistry. 

By    Prof.   JOSIAH    P.    COOKE, 

OF   HARVARD    UNIVERSITY. 
A     New     Edition,     with     Additions. 


One  Volume,  12 mo,     .....     $1.50. 


The  facts  of  astronomy,  as  they  have  been  revealed  by  a  lung  Ime  of 
sjilendid  discoveries,  have  already  been  applied  many  times  to  the  argu- 
ment of  design  in  natiue ;  Professor  Cooke  here  applies  to  it  the  hardly 
less  wonderful  facts  of  chemistrv. 


"The  work  has  stood  the  test  of  time,  ani  is  now  regarded  by  the  best  thinkers  as  a 
positive  contribution  to  the  literature  of  scientific  religi.jus  thought." — Boston  Trnveller. 

"  In  these  days  of  scientific  scepticism  a  book  upon  a  department  of  science,  which  is 
not  only  theistic  but  positively  Christian,  is  a  real  luxury." — New  York  Christiatt  In- 
teiligeiicer. 

"The  discussions  are  in  popular  rather  than  in  technical  language,  and  they  are  rich 
in  scientific  information  ;  the  arguments  are  forcible,  and  the  whole  work  one  that  may  be 
read  with  deep  interest." — New  Engiander. 

"  His  style  is  a  model  of  clearness  and  directness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  has  a  certain 
warmth  and  beauty,  which  occasionally  rises  into  eloquence  ;  and  there  are  passages  in 
the  volume  which  are  more  truly  poetical  than  the  majority  of  poems." — Portlatid  Press. 

"  His  book  is  eminently  fair  and  candid,  a  fine  example  of  the  '  sweet  reasonable- 
ness' so  much  commended  nowadays,  and  is  well  fitted  alike  to  nourish  the  faith  of  a  be- 
liever and  to  give  an  unbeliever  reason  to  consider  and  change  his  views." — Nt7v  York 
Obset'ver. 

"Prof.  Cooke's  style  is  easy  and  popular,  as  well  as  clear  and  accurate.  He  does 
not  presuppose  a  thorough  knowledge  of  chemistry  in  the  reader,  but  has  adapted  his 
book  for  general  reading.  A  copy  ought  to  be  put  in  the  hands  of  every  young  man  of 
tne  country." — RicJunond  Religious  Herald. 

"  '  Religion  and  Chemistry'  presents  the  happiest  combination  of  religion,  philosophy, 
and  natural  science  in  a  harmonious  trinity  that  we  have  seen.  No  thinking  beng  can 
read  it  without  deriving  from  it  int-llectual  improvement,  moral  comfort,  and  the  pleasure 
that  is  always  afforded  from  a  good  li:erary  production." — Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"Viewed  as  a  scientific  book  alone,  on  its  special  subject,  we  know  of  none  that  can 
ome  in  competition  with  '  Religion  and  Chemistry,'  while  the  polished  and  elegant  style 
of  the  author,  and  his  earnest  conviction,  everywhere  apparent,  that  the  truths  he  expla  ns 
owe  their  chief  value  to  the  glimpses  they  afford  us  of  the  Divine  economy  of  creation,  im- 
part to  it  a  peculiar  and  signal  value." — New  York  Times. 


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The  Religions  of  the  Ancient  World 

Including  Egypt,  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  Persia,  India, 
Phcenicia,  Etruria,  Greece,  Rome. 

By    GEORGE     RAWLINSON,    M.A. 


One  Volutne^  12m o,  -  _  _  -        $1,00, 

Uniform  with  "  The  Origin  of  Nations." 


Canon  Rawlinson's  great  learning  and  his  frequent  contribu- 
tions to  the  history  of  ancient  nations  qualify  him  to  treat  the 
subject  of  this  volume  with  a  breadth  of  view  and  accuracy  of 
knowledge  that  few  other  writers  can  Iny  claim  to.  The  treatise 
is  not  intended  to  give  an  exhaustive  review  of  ancient  religions, 
but  to  enable  the  students  of  history  to  form  a  more  accurate 
apprehension  of  the  inner  life  of  the  ancient  world. 

"  The  historical  studies  which  have  elevated  this  author's  works  to  the 
highest  position  have  made  him  fa;niliar  with  those  beliefs  which  once  di- 
rected the  world's  thought  ;  and  he  has  done  literature  no  better  service 
than  in  this  little  volume.  .  .  .  The  book  is,  then,  to  be  accepted 
as  a  sketch,  and'as  the  most  trustworthy  sketch  in  our  language,  of  the  re- 
ligions discussed." — A\   Y.  C/iristiun  Advocate. 

THE  ORIGINOF  NATIONS 

By  Professor  GEORGE   RAWLINSON,   M.A. 


One  Volume^  12mo,     With  inaps,         -        -         $1.00, 


The  first  part  of  this  book.  Early  Civilizations,  discusses  the 
antiquity  of  civilization  in  Egypt  and  the  other  early  nations  of 
the  East.  The  second  part.  Ethnic  Affinities  in  the  Ancient 
World,  is  an  examination  of  the  ethnology  of  Genesis,  showing 
its  accordance  with  the  latest  results  of  modern  ethnographical 
science. 

"  An  attractive  volume,  which  is  well  worthy  of  the  careful  consideration 
of  every  reader." — Observer. 

"A  work  of  genuine  scholnrly  excellence  and  a  useful  offset  to  a  great 
deal  of  the  superficial  current  literature  on  such  subjects." 

—  Congregationalist. 

"  Dr.  Rawlmson  brings  to  this  discussion  long  and  patient  r'-search,  a 
vast  knowledge  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  wnat  has  been  written  on 
both  sides  of  the  question." — Brooklyn  Union-Ar^us. 

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A   NEW   EDITION    NOW    READY    CF 

^sxgrian   BixrobFriFS. 

An  Account  of  Explorations  and  Discoveries  on  tha 
Site  of  Nineveh  during  1873  and  1874. 

By  GEORGE    SMITH, 

Late  of  the  De/>Lirtment  of  Oriental  Antiquities,  British  Museum. 

With  Maps,  W^ood-Cuts,  and  Photographs.  One  Vol.    8va 

Cloth,  $4.00. 


OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS. 

From  the  N.  Y.  Daily  Tribune. 

"Mr.  Smith  appears  to  have  engaged  in  his  work  with  equal  ardor,  perseverance, 
tnd  good  judgment.  His  habits  as  a  scholar  have  not  impaired  his  efficiency  as  a 
practical  man.  'Jhe  recital  of  his  experience  is  marked  by  frankness,  modesty,  and 
great  intelligence." 

From  the  St.  Louis  Democrat. 

"The  book  reveals  much  of  the  hitherto  hidden  history  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  and 
shows  that  its  per. pie  were  wise  in  many  things.  The  maxims  translated  from  the 
records,  and  the  curious  devices  and  pictures  brought. to  the  earth's  surface,  give  us  a 
clearer  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  people  that  inhabited  that  nation  than  we  have 
gained  from  any  other  source.  *  *  *  It  is  a  work  of  great  importance,  and 
will  be  welcomed  by  all  scholars  and  antiquaries." 

From  the  N.    V.   Evening  Post. 

"Mr.  Smith's  book  is,  in  clearness  and  accuracy,  all  that  could  be  wished  ;  himself  a 
great  authority  on  Assyrian  antiquities,  he  has  prepared  a  work  which  no  person  who  has 
Studied,  or  mtcnds  to  study,  this  fascinating  subject  should  fail  to  read." 

From    the  Cincinnati  Commercial, 

"  It  is  in  the  hope  that  these  rich,  first  fruits  of  investigation  will  stimulate  inquiry, 
and  induce  the  British  Government  to  take  hold  of  the  matter,  and  bring  its  influence  to 
bear  in  such  a  manner  upon  the  Ottoman  Government  as  to  secure  its  co-operation  in 
prosecuting  a  thorough  system  ot  investigation,  that  we  close  Mr.  Smith's  absorbingly 
interesting  book." 

From  the  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

"His  book  is  a  simple,  straightforward  record  of  what  he  accomplished,  written  not 
to  catch  the  applause  of  the  ignorant,  but  to  inform  the  wi->e  and  the  thoughtful.  The 
narrative  of  personal  experience  is  interesting,  without  trace  of  straining  for  sensational 
effect     But  the  cnief  value  of  the  work  is  for  its  account  of  things  accomplished." 


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CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S   SONS,  Publishers, 

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DATE  DUE 

OCI  i.3^^ 

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